The Day of the City of Zagreb - A Race of Neretva Boats on Jarun Lake

Celebrate the Day of the City of Zagreb at Jarun Lake on 28 May and attend the first ever race of Neretva boats in Zagreb. The participants will include the best rowing crews which compete in the famous Boat Marathon on the Neretva.

A race of Neretva boats will take place at Jarun Lake on 28 May to mark the Day of the City of Zagreb. The race will take place on the 9.6 km long rowing lanes of Jarun Lake, and it will involve a dozen of the best rowing crews which participate in the traditional Boat Marathon on the Neretva River. Thus, the attractive rowing competition, which is organized every other Saturday in August on the Neretva River and usually gathers tens of thousands of spectators from all over Croatia and numerous tourists, will see its premiere in Zagreb.

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.

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.