Class One takes to the Nile
While the Greek Grand Prix may have faced organisational hiccups from the Local organisers side, the promoters of the World Professional Powerboating Association (WPPA), IOTA would have none of it again – the second time round.
WPPA President, Saeed Hareb along with IOTA general secretary, Marco Sala and Pasquale recently visited Porto Marina, venue of the fifth round of the Class One World Powerboat Championship to ensure that all arrangements for the fifth round were in order and on schedule.
“After a few visits to the marina and checks, we realised that there were many areas in the marina that were too shallow and hence asked the local organisers to dredge the area. It is not possible to take the race offshore as it would be away from the spectators and this was agreed upon by the organisers most willingly”, said Saeed Hareb. The reason for dredging the area is so that the racers do not lose a mile and a half on the course and the WPPA and IOTA were firm on this Saeed said emphatically. “We were ready to cancel the race if the request was not granted.”
The team met with the local organiser and the minister of Sports who are very supportive of the sport and have offered their full co-operation in this regard. “The Minister expressed his concerns and has assured us that the proposal put forward will be adhered to and wished the very best for the races”, Saeed added.
Since it is the Holy Month of Ramadan and the races would clash with the fasting and the oncoming Eid holidays it was mutually agreed to postpone the races by a week. The race will now be held on Friday 27th October, 2007. “We are now preparing for a road show as well as the Nile show in the first week of August. “This is a very important event for us as it is a build up to the races in October. We will have the Victory Team boat to do a parade on the water on the Nile which is a spectacular venue for such an event and there after the boats will go to Porto Marina on display. This will be a huge boost for Egypt not only in the sports arena but also for tourism, thus making it a great place during the event in October”, added Saeed Hareb.
“From our experience we have learnt that this is a model way to boost the image of the event as we did it before at the Düsseldorf Boat Show which turned out to be a huge success. Unfortunately, we were unable to so it in Moscow due to reasons beyond our control, but we look forward to boost the image of WPPA, IOTA and Class One as a World Professional Powerboating organiser,” Saeed concluded.