Dennis (seated fourth right) is seen with committee members. Marudi District Officer Mackos Sibong is seated at third right.
MARUDI: This year’s Baram Regatta will regain its original ‘flavour’ by holding a race solely for Baram folk.
Regatta committee technical chairman and Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau said this race involving local boats will be in keeping with the original Baram Regatta more than 100 years ago.
“This is a departure from the previous and last Baram Regatta, where all races were open to any team thus making the
Baram Regatta lose its original ‘flavour’,” he said during a technical committee meeting recently.
He said the Baram Closed race would be solely for Baram folk, while the Baram Open race would be open to all including foreign participants.
“Therefore I urge community leaders and village chiefs in Baram to promote and encourage their longhouses to join the Baram Closed races, which will rekindle the Baram Regatta’s original purpose, that is to promote friendly competition among Baram people,” he said.
Dennis said there will also be a mixed team race for men and women this year.
“So we hope that more longhouses from Baram will send their teams this year where the equal chances of winning are wide open. Previous regattas had local traditional Baram boats finding it hard to compete with non-traditional boats and this made locals lose interest in competing,” he added.