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Written by Karen
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 |
Hello Crew,
Kelowna turned out to be another great festival with over 85 teams participating. As always the competition was tough but Crew Yahoo rose to the challenge yet again. The races were exciting even when we were not in the boat (ever seen a dragonboat capsize in the middle of a race?). We had a total 25 people on the roster which meant 3 had to sit out every race. The coaches designed the race rosters to allow everyone at least 3 races for the weekend. This had the added benefit of having fresh paddlers come in from race to race.
Race 1 - After a fairly intense warm-up to get rid of some nervous energy, the team was poised and ready to set the tone for the weekend. At the start of the horn we blasted off leaving the competition behind. Even though the race ended up being massive blur due to our uncontrollable rate, we took first place and put in a respectable time of 2:11.96 This turned out to be the second fastest time of the morning.
Race 2 - The team received a little "lecture" about the less than ideal execution from race 1 and we were ready once again. The execution was 100% better than the morning and we ended up winning this race as well. Our time was 2:18.75 which was hampered by lake currents that started to kick up and got progressively worse through the afternoon. Our combined time for the day placed us second overall earning us a spot in the top platinum division, but the competition was very tight.
PARTY - The team gathered at the vacation home for a delicious dinner (with Chef Kelvin BBQ'ing up a storm for the entire team). Dinner was followed by some controlled and measured consumption of beverages (as per coaches order) and some crazy vegetable game that kept the smiles on everyone.
Semi Finals - Our semi-final was up against two very formidable teams (Dragon Hearts Magnum and Master's of D'Zone). These are both seasoned teams right out of the Competitive A division from the Alcan Dragonboat festival in Vancouver. We knew they were going to be tough to beat. We flew off to a great start and was ahead of the pack, but we could not hold back their training and stamina and was edged out at the finish line. This placed us 3rd in the race with a time of 2:11.31, less than 1 second behind the above two team. This was not a great situation as now we had to wait to find out the results of the other semi-final race to see if our time was good enough to earn a spot in the final. Our time ended up beating the first place finisher of the other semi, which meant we were in, "phew".
Finals - The team was amped for the final race. We were up against teams that we considered to be out of our league just 2 years ago. Making it into this platinum final was already an achievement we were extremely proud of and now we have an opportunity to extend that success. The tension was high going up to the start line. The focus we had was unwavering in the breeze of the okanagan. All boats are lined up, attention please, GO. The first two strokes of the start lifted us out of the water and everyone was getting the "water connection" that the coaches have been preaching all season. Well it just so happens that Dustin got a little more water connection than his carbon fiber paddle could handle, and he broke it in half, literally. So on stroke 4 out flies a broken paddle (good thinking Dustin, lighten the boat)and this spelled trouble since we didn't have a spare. After the start sequence, Heather gave up her paddle to Dustin and had to sit out the rest of the race. In a race where the competition is so tight, carrying an extra drummer is a little bit of a challenge to say the least. While the crew paddled their hearts out, we ended up 5th in that final race. Oh well, a stroke of bad luck but just imagine what could have been….. Congrats to all the other teams, Crew Yahoo will be back with reinforced paddles next year, and maybe a spare.
At least we now know, without a shadow of doubt, that Dustin is, in fact, working during a race, at least on the first 3 strokes anyways.
Kelvin
PS. Thanks to everyone who helped out with dinner preparations on Saturday night, we couldn't have done it without you!
Here are the times for the final race:
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1
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2
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Masters of D'Zone
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2:08.59
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2
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4
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Dragon Hearts Magnum
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2:09.59
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3
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3
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Abraxis Warriors
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2:10.17
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4
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5
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Without Warning
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2:11.40
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5
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1
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Crew Yahoo
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2:12.24
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 March 2010 )
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