Hi everybody…
Very exciting races today for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and our affiliates… Killarney Cougar Dragons, and UA Power Dragons.
Early Saturday Morning the Killarney junior team raced their first ADBF race and learned they could keep their timing, reach out and have the endurance to paddle 500m, after only 8 practices ever!
Gung Haggis Fat Choy and UA Power Dragons – both coached by Todd Wong, faced off as the 7th and 8th seeds in their first race of the day. It was a close race – but UA beat Gung Haggis, sending GHFC into the novice division and UA into the rec division.
Gung Haggis organized a 50+ Race and brought on paddlers from other teams to join with them to create oneness, despite their different styles and identities. Paddlers from Gung Haggis, GVRD 44 Cheeks, Eye of the Dragon, Lotus Mixed, Pirates, all came together to see what they could do against more experienced teams, such as Wasabi, False Creek, Tacoma DBA, and Momentuum. As expected False Creek took an early lead. Tacoma raced with 19 paddlers to follow them. We went neck and neck from start to finish with Wasabi for a thrilling bronze medal challenge. Less than one second separated Gung Haggis and Wasabi, as the medal went to Wasabi. Everybody on the “Old Haggis Fat Boy” team was happy with the experience, and enjoyed the challenge of paddling with new people and making the team jell.
Gung Haggis used this experience for their afternoon race. We tightened up the pace of our first 6 strokes, and we rocketed to a 2nd place start following the more experienced CC Dragons. It was strange chatting with the CC Dragons in the marshalling area because I had raced on some competitive teams with them in 2001, on the GM team for Victoria, Kelowna and San Francisco – where we were in Diamond, Platinum and 2nd overall. And here we were now battling it out in Novice Division.
The currents were challenging, and our boat bounced a bit towards the right… At one point we got two close to the CC Dragons who were ahead of us to the right, and we were asked to “let it ride” – once clear, the race officials said – you're clear to go. And we did another start, and still managed to make 3rd place, only one second behind the team that passed us while we were “resting.” A Great race – and we're ready do do it again for tomorrow.
For Sunday…
Captain Jim asks that we arrive for 8:30am. We
want to be completely prepared with NO SNAGS or LATECOMERS for our Heat
63/ 9:50 race. Lets' work on some visualization, then get out on the
water early.
We will be in lane 3. This means we are 3rd seed in the race.
1st and 2nd advance directly to Novice A Championship (that should be us)
Fastest two 3rd from heats Novice semi finals advance to Novice A Final
slowest 3rd plus 4th and 5th place goes to Novice Consolation (not us)
All others go to Novice B Championship
Other things going on.
7:22
am Heat 55 Hydronautix needs a steersperson – I have asked Stephen
Mirowski to assist this team. They are in lane 7 of the Competitive
Women's Division. Chances of winning a medal will be 3/6
8:55 an Heat 58
Killarney Cougar Dragons – Lane 2
they are seeded 2nd last.
Top 3 go to C Final Championship,
Bottom 3 go to D Final championship
We have asked Steven W, to steer.
Chances of a medal are 3/6
9:50am Heat 63
Gung Haggis Fat Choy – lane 3
chances of winning medal 3/44
Junior Championships for D & C
12:57 or 1:08
Novice A Championship
2:25 Consolation or 2:36 Championship
Hey everybody…. Our last race was GREAT!
We still finished ahead of the pack – even at 3rd place
We now we could have been 2nd without letting it ride.
We hung in therem stayed competitive – so now we want
to advance to Novice A Championship – with a 1st or 2nd place showing.