North West Dragons - King of the CDCs 2010!

North West Dragons beat all the 4 other CDCs to clinch 2nd behind People's Association

Last Sunday, I took part in my very first dragonboat race and boy, was it memorable.

Dragonboating is a new experience for me, something I picked up only after I joined PA early this year. At first, I was very relunctant to join as I didn't think I had enough stamina for such a high-energy sport. But I was swayed and I joined without thinking I would eventually row in the final team.

But as I go for more trainings, the more I was hooked. The techniques involved, the teamwork needed and the mental strength required to succeed in dragonboating intrigued me and got me addicted. I began to enjoy the training sessions even though it was really physically torturing.

When I found out I was in the final rowing team, I was actually pretty thrilled, knowing that I will be entering the race for sure. I'm a new rower but I'm a committed one.

We were discussing race tactics when we mentioned what we think of our own chances, and really we were just hoping to get a medal, which was what the team did last year, albeit only just at 3rd.

Getting 3rd again was our initial target, when we heard things about how competitive the other teams are. Getting 2nd was the best result because we don't hold out any hope at all of defeating the PA team, who has won it every year.

But we breezed through, as our training paid off! We clocked the record timing for our CDC in 1 min 53 sec for 300m, only 4 seconds behind the PA team. We were at least 5 seconds ahead of the next best team. And so we became the King of the CDCs for the first time!

Next year, we have hopes to beating the PA team. It's time to really challenge them for the title. 2nd will not be enough for us.

I love this experience, and I'm already looking forward to starting training next year! Go North West Dragons!!