2024-01-07 09:00:00
There are two characters who steal most of the attention in the run-up to the launch of the new edition of the Río Negro Regatta. One of them, the most senior, is treated like a hero. And he really is. At a jovial 84 years old, Oscar Roza was the first to arrive in Viedma in 1965 across the river along with Oscar Focarazzo, and from then on they would remain forever in the great history of the journey.
On the beach of Jordan Island, it was proven that Franco Balboa’s magnetism and his relationship with this test remain unchanged. While he helps his companions from the Neuquén legion with the boats, the requests for photos and displays of affection do not stop. The four-time Regatta champion is one of the most representative figures in canoeing. current, although this time he has decided to get off the boat after having won the 2023 edition brilliantly with his brother Dardo.
«This is a test where one has to work hard and leave many things aside to be able to face it. I decided this year not to run it and focus on other objectives such as the Sella Descent and the world championships. The Regatta is a race that we have longed for since we were little, we live it and we will always have the intention of winning it. We will surely return next year,” says the paddler from Neuquén.
Last year the Balboa brothers defeated the French duo made up of Jeremy Candy and Quentin Urbana presence that motivated them to return to the Regatta after a few years of absence.
«It was a challenge to race against them, who are two-time world champions and Sella champions, which is a race that we dream of and long to win. Last year it was very difficult to get to the Regatta, also economically due to promised support that did not arrive, but we arrived well, we competed intelligently and we were able to leave the name of Neuquén canoeing high,” Franco points out.
The absence of the Balboas leaves the French without revenge, who returned to the Regatta with the intention of winning it. Candy already did it in 2022 but it was in the senior K1. «I hope they do well this year and want to return in the next edition. It will be a challenge for us to face them in the water again. If they don’t come, we will return to compete with the new champions.
While Franco says goodbye to Black riverbetween requests for photos and greetings, Oscar Roza is invited to the stage for the tribute that the organization has prepared for him. After the recognition and ovation he received, the first great hero of the journey begins to remember him.
«I remember each and every one of the nine stages. They were all long and they even had to shorten one. It was the one that arrived at Guardia Miter,” Roza recalls about that first adventure. «Some spas were not like they are now, but it was a practically experimental race. “We only had the support of a sweeper boat.”
In those times, only a handful of brave people dared to undertake such a journey, with fragile canvas boats. «In the first Regatta we were only 20 paddlers, distributed in 10 boats. And the form of competition was similar to that of now: by sum of times through the respective stages.
Before the first crossing through El Negro, Roza had competed with Alberto Oreja in the test that linked Bariloche with Roca in 1957 and won. He was also part of the race that linked Villa La Angostura with Neuquén, until the Regatta arrived.
«The biggest problem was the canoes and paddles, there was nothing else to get by. Then plywood appeared, plastic… In any case, the most important thing was always the preparation of the two who were on top of the boat. “You had to have very good training to be at the top.”
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