Screams of “Harder! Stronger! Longer!” could be heard all up and down the banks of Boat Quay a few weeks ago, as it played host to the annual Singapore River Regatta. Hundreds of paddlers and teams from all over Singapore and parts of Asia gathered here for the 300 metre races, which included men’s, women’s and mixed boats. Everything went as one would
expect. People came, people paddled, people… BUT WAIT! Before going any further, it might be a good time to mention something that you may or may not find interesting… erm… WE WON!
That’s right! We owned the river, taking home the gold medal in the ‘Inter-International Business Community mixed-20 race.’ No one expected us to even get close and yet we blew the competition out of the water and … Oh, wait a second. This isn’t hockey. Must be modest. Must not show off! Canadian Mode: On.
Yes, the well-spelled cries of “C-A-N-A-D-A” echoed throughout downtown Singapore and well into the night as we celebrated our best result in several years. Even before we received the solitary finger raised (no, not in that way) by our mole in the Official’s Tower to signal our position in crossing the finishing line, we already knew we had paddled our hearts out. We were all partially deaf from our cox screaming “We are leading” for much of the second half of the race, although he had gone suspiciously quiet in the last 50 metres which must have spurred us on. As word filtered through that we might have done quite well, we all avoided tempting fate as we knew that these races can sometimes go down to photo finishes with the last paddle stroke deciding the winner. Once on shore, the word got out and the cheers went up.
At the same time, our girls – the newly christened ‘Iron Butterflies’ – also put in a top notch performance in the Women’s 10s category. Unlike the Mixed 20 boat, which was competing against mere Expat teams in paper-light boats, the ladies were in the mix with teams from all over Singapore and in boats that weighed a ton. Nevertheless, these butterflies flew in formation and won the Bronze medal in the Minor Final, an excellent result for a team-within-a-team that was only put together a few months before the race. We’ve known for some time that the Canadian team was an equal opportunity employer but now we really see they are a force to be reckoned with and the back bone of this team!
So now begins the next season and we are looking for new recruits. Interested in joining the team? Check out our website at www.canadiandragons-sg.org .
No comments:
Post a Comment