Hey DBCB,

Congratulations to the Shanghai crew for representing Boston in China last weekend!  The crew is bringing back a SWEET cash prize for the club, which will go towards the funds we're raising to buy a new boat! 

The 10-paddler mixed crew raced their hearts out against 14 other teams in Qing Pu, about 20 mins from Shanghai.  The race was an invitational race for teams to compete in an Open division and not surprisingly, it attracted extremely tough competition.  To mention just a few teams that were present: the national dragon boat teams for China and Macau; teams from Vancouver and Montreal Canada; Hong Kong; Germany; university teams from the Philippines, Taiwan and Southern California.

The boats were wood 10-person dragon boats, very tippy, heavy and the steering oar blade was much wider, almost like a big paddle.  The race venue was set in a public park in Qing Pu where a main stage was set up for the local government VIPs and the sports association who sponsored the race.  Although the 500-meter race was billed as 500 meters, the actual race course was more like 300 - 400 meters.  Our 10 paddlers raced a thrilling first heat against a local Chinese team and a team from Hamburg, Germany, placing 3rd with a time of 1'49''63.  It was a close race at the end though.  In our "500-meter" semi-final, we managed to beat the all-male team from Hamburg, placing 3rd with a time of 1'49''37.  Our final didn't go so well after having had a long lunch break and paddling to the main stage and back for the official opening ceremony in the afternoon, waiting at the main stage, confusion at the docks, etc., and we had a rough start, but the race was close the entire way against the same competitors we faced in our previous races, and we placed 3rd with a time of 1'51''31.

In the 2500 meter rounding race, our endurance training and practice with turns paid off!  The race was a staggered start with our division racing 7 teams.  We started off in 7th place but finished 5th ahead of 2 teams, with a time of 19'08''56!!!!  In this race, we were pretty much breathing down the necks of the team from Hamburg.  If the race rules had not prevented turning on the inside lane, our crew would have easily over-taken them on several turns; there were 2 times, our crew let it run on the turns to avoid passing Hamburg on the turns and breaking the rules. 

At the end, our crew raced 4 times in one day, including the 2500 meter rounding race.  WAY TO GO DBCB!!!!!!  The team paddled their best in every single race and I'm so very proud of the effort they put in!  You should have seen them DBCB, the crew showed some serious grit! 

Huge cheers to Nikki, our Team Manager and Race Coordinator Extraordinaire, who managed every little detail among a thousand details to get our crew to China!  She makes race coordination and team management look easy and effortless!!!

Big props to Claire who acted as our travel liaison with the tour guides, and used her expert bargaining skills, connections, patience and charisma to get us deals on airfare and the group travel tours!

BIG thanks to Jack for being our team intepreter and DBCB representative at the mayor's greeting when the teams first arrived.

Thanks to our cheering squad in Shanghai:  Rosemary (Raphael's wife), Jack and Bella!!!!

Last but certainly in no way the least...TONS OF KUDOS to the crew who raced their best and made this fantastic trip a reality!!

DBCB paddlers:
Nikki
Khoa
Laurinda
Mike M.
Jacek
Claire
Ashley Wo.
Gim

Non-DBCB paddlers:
Steve C. (LRDB)
Raphael (DC Dragons)

Steerer:  Daniel (UC Irvine), Rachel
Drummer: Tom, Rachel

See you at practice next Thursday!

Rachel

Last Updated ( Monday, 01 March 2010 15:05 )