A celebration of the Day of the City of Zagreb at Jarun Lake, 28th May, will start with the first ever race of Neretva boats in Zagreb. The participants, the best rowing crews from all around Croatia, will compete in the famous Boat Marathon on the Neretva. The race will take place on the 9.6 km long rowing lanes of Jarun Lake.
For those who do not know, the attractive rowing competition, which is organized every other Saturday in August on the Neretva River usually gathers tens of thousands of spectators from all over Croatia and numerous tourists on Neretva river. By organizing this famous race, which has become a real tourist attraction, the inhabitants of the Neretva Valley have saved their traditional vessels, the so-called ladja, from oblivion. The vessel was first mentioned in 1665, and for a long time, it was the only means of transport in the valley. The attractiveness of the race is attested to by the fact that some of the rowing crews come from abroad to participate and more often than not their members hail from the Neretva Valley.
As the city of Zagreb always thinks about charity, not only about fun, the race in Zagreb will be followed by a voluntary blood drive while the visitors at Jarun can look forward to an impressive entertainment programme.
The organizers of the Neretva boat race are the City of Zagreb, the Zagreb Tourist Board, the Association of Neretva Boatmen, and the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine. See you on Jarun, on 28th of May!