The Lađa Boat Marathon is not just a race, it’s a way of life!

We got up very early because we wanted to arrive in Metković a few hours before the 27th Neretva Lađa Boat Marathon which takes place from Metković to Ploče.

We arrived a full four hours before the start of the race was marked at 5:00 p.m., in which 31 crews of traditional lađa boats hoped they would be the winners on the 22.5-kilometer course.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

The city was almost empty at the time of our arrival, and the air temperature of 37 degrees tempted me first of all for a cold beer, and not the shore of the Neretva near the Lucki bridge built way back in 1973, where the start of the marathon will take place. There were already neatly lined up autochthonous boats, 15 of which were brand new, they say faster, but the competitors were still resting then.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

As the start of the race approached, competitors and spectators started to arrive, some of whom commented among themselves on who would be the winner of this year’s marathon. I listen to two middle-aged men, I would say, former participants of the boat marathon, how they wisely analyze the possible winners and glorify the past times when “everything was something completely different”.

“You see how today they put pumps to throw water out of their ships, and that used to not exist, we had to grab water with buckets,” says the man whose conversation I listen to a little bit as I slide between the growing number of spectators who are taking positions, for now still in the shade, because at that time there was still at least an hour and a half until the race.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

According to the competition regulations, there are ten rowers in the boat, a helmsman, and a drummer, who “beats” the rowing rhythm. Of the 31 teams, ten are from the continent, twenty are “local” and the last ones, I would say recreational, arrive from Sombor, and their name is Salašari.

In the last two years, the victory in the marathon was won by the Lađari from Zagreb, so there was a “danger” that the shield of Prince Domagoj, the prize for the winner of the marathon, would become their permanent property, if by any chance this happened for the third time in a row.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

However, it is not easy to win on the 22.5-kilometer course in a race that will last at least two hours. It decides a lot, of course mostly physical preparation and year-round training, but also the experience that, for example, the Neretva is faster on the left side of the coast compared to the right.

Everyone is already a little nervously waiting for the start of the race, which will be marked by a cannon shot. High-ranking guests have also arrived, from the president and those under. The whole suite!

After the warm-up, the boatmen slowly took their places, and their schedule was decided by the previously held speed race, a kind of “pole position” from Neretva.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

The crowd, several thousand of them, gathered along the bridge in Metković, and there were at least as many along the route from Opuzen, Komin, and Rogotin to the finish line in Ploče. Everyone could hardly wait for the start with loud cheering.

Lađa boat marathon, Photo: Adria fun

As expected, the battle for the first position was fought between the Slivna team, Gusar from Komin, and the already mentioned Lađar from Zagreb.

Nevertheless, in the end, the Zagreb team was the first to pass the goal and thus still managed to win the Prince Domagoj shield as permanent ownership. The winners at the finish line, in their statements, were a bit angry because the organizers allowed too many boats with spectators that disturbed the competitors, and as they say, the unpredictable Neretva almost sank them several times at the finish line.

Lađa boat marathon winners, Photo: Adria fun

Nevertheless, they will celebrate long into the night, because a victory is still a victory, and for the first time reporting from this event, I realized that the Lađa boat marathon is not only a race, but also a way of life and sacrifice to win what many wish for, and in the end only the best wins.

This publication was co-financed by the Fund for the Promotion of Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media.