Hartford Race 2007 Write-up
[Photo by Bill Niedbala]
CONGRATULATIONS DBCB for winning bronze medals in the A Division Finals at the Hartford dragon boat festival yesterday!!! It's wonderful to end the season with a spot in the top seeded finals of a competitive race and to come out with shiny medals! Our team raced some really tough races this weekend and win or lose, I'm deeply proud of DBCB's efforts. This club has grown a lot this season and I'm incredibly touched to see many of you so enthused by the sport and eager to help the club move forward. This club has a whole lot of heart and team spirit and I'm very proud to be amongst you. You are an amazing and wonderful bunch and it's truly an honor and delight to paddle with each and every one of you =)
Hartford race write-up: Despite the rain-swept highways, everyone made it safely to the race-site on Saturday morning and tried to keep warm under our tent with towels, hooded pull-overs and jackets. Our first race of the day came quick against the NY Wall Street Dragons and a team called Splashing Tigers Soaking Dragons. As to be expected, there was a lot of first-race jitters and nervous energy but DBCB managed to pull a time of 2:33.92 behind NY Wall Street (2:32.84) and ahead of Splashing Tigers (2:46.65). This time trial seeded us squarely in the top 8. I think we placed 2nd in terms of fastest times overall at this point.
Our second race was for placement against our Ithaca race rivals Ma-Yi Theatre, GSK Philly and the Splashing Tigers. We ran a good race at the start, lost some power in the middle and encountered some timing issues at the finish but we managed to keep the other teams at bay to place first with a time of 2:40.41 ahead of GSK Philly (2:41.30), Ma-Yi Theatre (2:48.04) and Splashing Tigers (2:48.30). Our win placed us in the A Division finals and the last race of the day!
In the A Division finals, we were up against some stiff competition: NY Wall Street Dragons and Living Root Dragon Boat Team 1. We had a really rough start right from the get-go but down the stretch and at the end, we truly gave it our all. Ultimately, we placed 3rd capturing the bronze, behind LRDB Team 1 who came 2nd and NY Wall Street Dragons who placed first and won the gold. While this ending was disappointing for some of us, let's celebrate our accomplishments, be proud of the fact that we've staked our claim as a competitive team, and that we can paddle against strong competition and give them a run for their money. Congratulations on those bronze medals DBCB!!!
