By Trish Dinglestad
The current Dragon Boat season is now in full swing. Our coach, Nasiman, started practicing with the team this month and already we are working on perfecting our racing form. The practices on Saturday and Sunday help to prepare our team for competition and to build our team camaraderie. We continue to train up the new paddlers by having part of the session devoted to easing them into the swing of things with some technique practice. Learning the unique stroke used in Dragon boating is important not only for speed and efficiency, but also for paddling fitness. With this training strategy, new paddlers are welcome, and indeed are encouraged, to join the team at any time.
As well as normal training, there have been some exciting recent events to give us race practice whilst keeping everything light and fun. The American Team’s Mardi Gras Challenge was a hoot this year. Various challenge stations were set up all around the reservoir, to which we all paddled madly, completed the activity (not all of which required imbibing some form of ‘Liquid Paddling’) and then charged off to the next station. Lots of laughs, splashing and some very wobbly paddling!
On the horizon is a competitive race, the MR 500. This race takes place at the Bedok Resevoir on April 29th and 30th and is 500m in distance. This is a chance for local and expat teams to hone their racing skills while enjoying sun, water and the ever present lively music. This is a great event for new paddlers, allowing them to gain some race experience before the main event of this season: the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival in July.
So what are you waiting for?! Come out and see what the Canadian Dragons are all about!
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