Again this year Split City Day (Sudamja)'s program will go on without the regatta of rowing legends on Split’s waterfront (Riva). That is to say, the 19th International Saint Dominus (Sveti Duje) Regatta will not be held for the second year in a row, due to epidemiological measures.
This rowing regatta established itself as a well-known sports and tourist attraction that greatly contributes to international promotion of Split and its University. On the first day, on the regatta course in Spinut, spectators get to see a clash of the best European university eights, whose number increases every year. In addition to that, Spinut is the only place where Oxford and Cambridge’s original crews take part, those that row in the famous Boat race on London’s Thames in April. City of Split is technically the only place for their rematch, which adds charm to this regatta. Its second day is ment for the entertaining race between Split, Oxford and Cambridge rowing legends in the city port on a 222-meter-long course. This sprint discipline is intended for spectators gathered on the Riva. Apart from the fact that Regatta Sveti Duje became a social event with several fun activities, in recent years one connects successful business people from different professions and parts of the world. We talked about regatta and the decision to change its date with Luka Grubor, an Oxford legend, one of the Golden Sydney Eight and member of the Sveti Duje International Rowing Regatta organizing committee.
Luka, even though everything was ready, you still had to postpone the regatta.
The epidemiological situation in Croatia and the whole of Europe did not leave us much choice. We planned the regatta adhering to all measures and adapting the "bubble" system, which proved to be a good solution in several sports competitions. However, this regatta’s success largely depends on university crews being able to arrive here by plane, and Croatia's air connections with the rest of Europe are poor at this time. Before corona virus, Easter always marked the beginning of the tourist season and increasing number of flights to Split. It is different now. Teams for this regatta come from more than ten European countries and it would not be possible for all of them to come to Split at the scheduled time, so we decided to postpone the regatta to September. Its tradition and size do not allow it to take place in a reduced form. We are aware of how much this regatta means to university teams and we know that they love participating, not just because Split is such beautiful city, but also because of the strong competition.
Why September?
Just as early May marks the end of the winter rowing season and comes immediately after the Boat Race, so late September represents beginning of the fall training and regattas’ season. It is the ideal time for new generation university teams to check out their competition before they start serious preparation for the upcoming season. Cancellation of the European University Games, that were supposed to take place in Belgrade this year, is another reason, which only increased interest in our regatta. Students are eager for quality competition and spending time together. For regatta’s new date, we chose the weekend on September 25 and 26. That is the week before academic year starts, so student teams and individuals competing in Summer Olympics will already be there. We thought of organizing the Regatta one week before, the same week as the Day of Sports in Split (marking the opening of 8th Mediterranean Games in 1979), but that is the weekend of Croatia’s Rowing Championship being held in Zagreb. September will definitely be this year's month of rowing in Croatia.
Organizers of the Split Marathon announced that it would be taking place on the same day as the legends’ regatta in the city port.
Our projects share the same values. We are in contact with them and our programs will not overlap. All runners are supposed to pass through the finish line in Riva no later than 11:30, and the Race of Legends will not start until noon. People in Split can look forward to a real sports festival on that weekend. Getting to Riva and enjoying that day, like the day before at the pontoon near the restaurant ‘Gusar’, when student crews will row, will be worth it.
Boat race also changed a bit this year.
This year, 166. Boat race was not held at the traditional Championship Course in London to prevent people from gathering along riverbanks. Last year there was no rowing due to epidemiological reasons. Under normal conditions, the race attracts over 400,000 spectators along a nearly 7-kilometer-long regatta course. Its location changed to the Great Ouse River in a rural part of England, near the town of Ely, about twenty kilometers away from Cambridge. Cambridge teams won in both men’s and women’s categories. It is the second time in the race’s long history that it took place on this river. It first happened in 1944 during World War II, when Oxford had more success. This proves how difficult planning any event during extreme and limiting conditions, but traditions like the Boat race always find a way. Precisely tradition and the fact that this race has been held for 166 times, regardless of historical challenges and adversities, bring popularity to Boat race. I have to point out that organizing the Boat Race this year served as a great inspiration to our team, because of everything they had to do in order to maintain sports rivalry and continuity of the race. It is remarkable to what extent they worked out all the details to make sure that both preparing for it and the race itself complied with all epidemiological measures.
This event’s contribution to developing Croatian tourism cannot be measured by the number of overnight stays, as is the case of other sports events. Organizers point out that 25% of the participants in this Regatta return to the Adriatic at least once a year, and 12% of the competitors, mostly "Legends", have visited Split at least 10 times over the last 7 years. Last year obviously left the organizers enough time to think things through. They stress that the Regatta’s focus will always be on rowing, but they also plan to organize an international conference with an emphasis on connecting amateur sports, professional careers and business. That means that many rowing legends and former rowers; mostly university alumni, have interesting and varied careers after sports. This Regatta happens to bring together top experts from a number of sectors, from investing to medicine, on a regular basis, so it became a platform for bringing together top professionals. Co-founders of Facebook, Winklevoss brothers, current owners of Gemini Exchange, Ante Kušurin, vice president of the American fund One Equity Partners and many others also took part in this sporting event.
The loyalty our participants extend to Croatia and Split, the very profile of such visitors and strong promotion in specific markets are important criteria that we must take into account when mentioning sports community’s impact on Croatian tourism or other sectors of economy. Promoting Croatia in the international business network is something we can excel at. We plan to set up a "Legends Club" its members being sports legends who rowed in Split’s regatta, with alumni from Oxford, Cambridge and other universities. This club will be organizing that international conference -Luka Grubor concluded.