6 months of preparation. 2 minutes and 11 seconds of glory.

I couldn’t be more excited. The dragonboat team I coach at the University of Waterloo, the University of Waterloo Dragon Boat Club (UWDBC) competed in the Toronto International Dragonboat Festival on July 21/22, and finally put UW on the d-boat map. Most of our paddlers had never even picked up a paddle before, just 6 months prior.  The hard work in the gym and pool, combined with good technique paid off for them: With only 6 hours of practice in the boat, the team took a Silver Medal in the Universities ‘B’ final, putting up a time that beat several teams in the ‘A’ final: 2:11. Not too shabby for 6 hours of practice in the boat. The time puts them in a class with serious teams that have been paddling 2 – 3 days a week for years. Top 90 in North America, according to GWN. New club record by 3 seconds.

Better yet than the time, was how pumped the whole team was. On the spot, the boat decided we’d enter the Kiwanis Festival in Waterloo, and compete alongside the other two boats from our club. We also decided to keep paddling throughout the summer, and set a goal to improve even more for next year. They’ve caught the dragonboat fever.

The Festival:

Despite rain and bad weather on the Saturday, the festival ran very smoothly, as usual. The Toronto Chinese Business Association (TCBA) did a great job of keeping everything running roughly on-time and everybody informed. Only two real complaints I heard:

- Sand-bar in Lane #1 makes it unfairly shallow (slow) (this has been a complaint for years)

- Only short paddles (45″ – 47″) provided by the festival (GWN was the provider)

Fun weekend – it’s a shame the TCBA has made it so commercialized (expensive).

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