Here is a video of our 1st heat where we had a very close race with Tai Tam Tuk and Chai Wan, just pipping them at the post.
Here is a video of our 1st heat where we had a very close race with Tai Tam Tuk and Chai Wan, just pipping them at the post.
A fantastic set of races for our mixed team.
The first heat was a hard-fought race but we pipped first place.
Our second heat was a little easier. We won by several boat lengths.
The final was a battle to remember. We found ourselves on the starting line with Royal X, Fish Eagle, and the Nam Hoi Traders, paddling as The Dragon Challenge Club. We had the lead until the end when we were just nosed by Fish Eagle. We did stay ahead of North Sea Dragons who were last year’s champions.
Next up – Stanley on June 2nd!
You can see a video of the race here…
After yesterday’s 200m races, 500m suddenly seemed a long way!
The conditions were very rough. Boat crew limits dropped to 18, then 16, then 14. Many boats capsized. Luckily not us.
Our women performed magnificently. They changed boats on the dock from the Mixed final – all other boat crews were fresh – but still won convincingly. Let them tell you themselves:
Our Mixed crew had an awesome battle in the first heat with Lantau Boat Club, coming second, and finding themselves in a battle with a fully loaded VRC team and the HK National team. Third place was not enough to make the Grand final, even though our times were faster than some of the boats who had an easier path. We competed in the plate final and won with a good time.
Our men had four races, and it was a great opportunity for some of the newer members of the team to get some competitive race experience. We made second place in the plate final. A great team performance.
As soon as the races stopped, the skies opened, and the rain fell upon us. That made collecting medals a very wet affair.
Our women remain the true heroes. Not only did they add to our gold tally, but as champions, they won us a pig. A very big pig. We would have photographed it but it did not last very long.
On a weekend full of amber rain warnings, Stormys made it rain gold on the first day of our two-day racing weekend, with both a standard Mixed Grand Final gold (beating 96 teams) and a Mens mini gold!
We will be back at Stanley on the 2nd of June for the main event!
What an absolutely amazing day that was. And we are not talking about the weather, because it poured down all day.
We added 3 golds, a silver, and a bronze to our medal count for 2014.
Gold for the Mixed and Ladies 1km, while the men took silver.
All of our teams (men, mixed and women) made the grand finals of their 500m events. The women took gold, while the men took 4th in an awesome final.
And then 8 of the women, and 12 of the guys clambered back in the boat and found third place in the mixed 500m, despite fatigue kicking in.
Many teams concentrate on one or two events, but The Stormy Dragons want to race in everything. To do so well in so many back to back races is testament to how hard we have trained so far this year.
Great job by the boys and girls in red.
The party on the beach afterwards was much deserved.