Hey team,
It’s hard to believe that our last festival of the 2016 season is behind us! Twenty-nine of us headed to Montreal for the Quebec Cup (Sept 17-18) held at the Olympic Basin. For the local teams, this was the 3rd and final event of a circuit called the “Triple Crown”. A lot of the registered teams compete at the national level so the competition was fierce to say the least! CDBC entered two teams in the festival. Our mixed team was part of Mixed Division 1 which had a total of 20 teams. Our open team, which included Jerwin and 5 local paddlers from the 22Dragons host Club, was part of Men’s Division 1 that had a total of 9 teams. There were over 80 teams in total at the festival. All the races were filmed and can be found here if you are interested (search by race number per summary below): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiAALMqIKHm9ngCehWk-0JKtv55dN9UYL
Day 1 Summary:
500 m D1 Mixed (races #9 and #25) : CDBC Crew Yahoo was in the fourth and final 500 m D1 qualifier race. To the awe of the crowd, the Calgary boat edged a victory by one hundredth of a second with a time of 2:10.54. A very close and exciting race to start the festival with 3.5 seconds between first and fifth place. To add to the good news, as the winner of this heat, the team was awarded a flat of local beer! From here, the 500 m finals were decided with the qualifier times. Even though Yahoo won their heat, their time was 10th best which landed them in the B Final. They went on to obtain a hard fought 5th place in that B Final with a time of 2:11.18. No beer, but 10th place in the presence of such fierce competition was more than respectable!
500 m D1 Open (races #17 and #34): After a very eventful journey to the start line which included hitting the dock and a parked boat as well as losing the dragon head, 22 Yahoos managed to claim 3rd place in their first heat with a time of 2:07.38 - good enough for a berth in the Open A final. We tried an all-male line-up for the A final (and changed the steers person for some reason...) Despite these changes, 22 Yahoos finished last (5th) in the A final with an impressive time of 2:06.90; one tenth of a second behind the 4th place finishers!
2000 m D1 Open (race #37): A rainy, 9-boat, 7-turn, gutsy 2000 m race in increasingly violent waters capped the day. The starting position was 5th based on the 500 m results and a 7th place finish was obtained with a time of 11:05.95. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the prettiest race for 22 Yahoos with a few boats overtaking them and a LOT of water collected in the boat during the multiple turns. Most paddlers did have fun however...
Day 2 Summary:
200 m D1 Mixed (races #7 and #25): No sleeping in for Crew Yahoo! First race time was 0:50.77. An excellent time but we missed the A final by one tenth of a second! Something odd happened in the 200 m mixed B final. Crew Yahoo appeared to have finished third with a time of 0:51.91, but the team was awarded a hefty 1 second penalty for not being in the center of the lane! Even after an inconclusive video review, the end result was fifth place in the B finals with a “time” of 0:52.91.
500 m D1 Open (races #17 and #33): 22 Yahoos' first race was one of two 200 m qualifier races. With a time of 0:50.55 and a 5th place finish, 22 Yahoos were not able to qualify for the Open A final. This led to an exciting Open B final in which 22 Yahoos dominated from the start and crossed the finish line with a very respectable time of 0:50.06. A famous video of this race is available on Youtube (https://youtu.be/kM8EecAzU0I) - the best part was when the boat was greeted at the dock with not one but two flats of beer for the victory!
2000 m D1 Mixed B Final (race #37): To cap off this intense weekend of racing, CDBC Crew Yahoo was seeded in the mixed B final for the 2000 m race based on previous race results. Starting 9th out of 10 boats, Crew Yahoo maintained their place throughout the race for a second place finish with a very good time of 10:39.44 - somehow we avoided all penalties!
Overall Results:
Officials use a fancy points system that cumulates through all the events (200m, 500m and 2000m) Crew Yahoo got 11th overall out of 20 mixed D1 teams and 22 Yahoos got 6th overall out of 9 open D1 teams.
Festivities:
As you know, what happens in Montreal stays in Montreal. Although it has to be mentioned that for the first time in team dinner history, someone installed a stripper pole in the middle of the dining room. What happened after that is pretty unbelievable… Might have to come to the wrap-up party to see some photos?
Until next time, your planners, Charles and Lindsay!
