Regatta de Zamboanga held

THOUSANDS of people from all walks of life witnessed the successful holding of this year’s Regatta de Zamboanga.

The Regatta de Zamboanga, which was held on Sunday at R.T. Lim Boulevard, has a total of 125 vintas adorned with colorful sails joined the race in 13 hits.

The winners in the 13 hits competed for the championship round, which was a very close race between the colored yellow sail boat number two and the white colored sail boat number 44.

ZAMBOANGA. A City Government employee picks up the trashes thrown by the spectators on Sunday’s Regatta along R.T. Lim Boulevard. (Bong Garcia)

The sail boat number two was maneuvered by Amil Hamja, who was also the winner in last year’s Regatta.

The crowd was sent to thrill and burst to cheers when the two sail boats struggled to advance and tried to out run each other in the championship race.

In the end, the sail boat number two raced to the finishing line less than a meter ahead of the sail boat number 44.

Hamja, a resident of Sinunuc village, west of Zamboanga City, went home with a P10,000 cash prize from the local government and a Honda in-board engine courtesy of Safety Enterprises.

The sail boat number 44 which is from Mariki village, east of the city, landed second place with P7,000 cash prize.

Following third with P5,000 cash prize was sail boat number 93 while sail boat number 28 placed fourth with P3,000 cash prize and fifth was sail boat number 51 with P2,000 cash prize.

All of the 120 other participants received P1,000 consolation prize each.

Mayor Celso Lobregat, who helped facilitate the race, said Regatta is one of the main crowd-drawing events during the Hermosa Festival in celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar. (Bong Garcia)