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It's that time again! 2018 Canadian Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Welland, ON!
The eve before racing begins in this years National Championships competition is upon us. Rowbust is all snug in our beds at the Welland campus of Niagara College getting a good nights sleep. Tomorrow will be an exciting day. 200m races plus a 1000m race that we've never done in competition before! We've practiced it and tomorrow we will give it all we've got! We've done the hard work in the gym and on our beautiful Fanshawe Lake back at home in London. Now it is time to lay it down on the race course! Friday, June 29/18 - Rowbust race schedule: * 12:04pm - Race #20 - 200m heat * 1:16pm - Race #29 - 200m final * 4:48pm - Race # 47 - 1000m final Saturday, June 30/18 - Rowbust race schedule: * 10:10am - Race #57 - 500m heat * 11:50am - Race # 67 - 500m final * 1:45pm - Race #73 - 2000m final What an amazing day! It was hot and sunny, just the kind of weather we need to get used to for when we are racing in Italy and Hungary. So we might as well get used to it now!! We usually have to take Pendragon Women with us to fill our crews (and we are always thankful for their help) but not this time. We were able to completely fill two Rowbust crews. Heart Lake crews:
The weather and crew composition made it a perfect day for Cheryl and Sarah to move people around, try different seats, try different crews and really see what works. And what doesn’t! It was also the perfect day for our Newbies to experience (and get hooked on) dragon boat racing! And I think that is just what happened! Rowbust did their 500m race first which placed them in the "D" Division with Coach Sarah drumming and Newton steering. It was a solid 1st race for our Newbies! Rowbust Dragon Spirit went next and their 500 m race placed them in the "A" Division. Then came the, always fun, 200 m knockout races. Rowbust unfortunately was knocked out in the 1st race. But it was so close! We really thought they had it!! Rowbust Dragon Spirit was up next and stayed in the knockout rounds right to the very end and WON their 200 m knockout round! Then the 2 km.....Rowbust (Newbie/Italy boat) did the perfect race plan with Sarah sitting on the drum seat talking them through every step of the way and Newton taking them around the turns. Rowbust was the first boat in their heat of 8 boats and 20 second intervals. They were able stay well out in front of all the boats to ensure they were not overtaken by any boat coming up behind! It is always exciting to see the Newbies faces when they come off the boat after their first 2km race. Every single time they are beaming with pride for having done it! They are exhilarated and full of energy when 20 minutes before they were full of butterflies and thought for sure they would be exhausted. Rowbust Dragon Spirit was in the last 2km of the day. We knew this was going to be a fight since we were up against the best teams of the festival, but that is what makes us better and that is who we need to race against! We held all of the boats behind us until the last turn where 5 boats were all taking the 3rd turn at the same time! Other teams got the right of way of us and we had to help Shirley by drawing on the front left and back right just get around that bouy to “restart” and power up so as not to lose too much ground!! Coaches got to play around with rosters, seating arrangements and race plans with only 3 weeks of water training under our belt...we didn't do too bad. We know there are things that we are going to work on. We wouldn't want to be “perfect” just yet . And you can bet that we will be doing drills and drills and drills - bring it on Cheryl and Sarah!!!! In the end it was a great day. The Newbie's got "pinned" with their Rowbust pins and whistles for their life jackets and everyone was all smiles are we parted ways and headed for home! WELCOME TO ROWBUST 2018 NEWBIES! Pictures below are courtesy of Shirley Holland & Lisa Bean Linda KuskaRowbust Team Captain & Original Member (19 years) Here we are on the eve of our first race of the 2018 paddling season. We have weathered another long, cold winter and have emerged stronger and fitter after months of circuit training at Movati and Rev Con and loads of cardio thanks to a lively accountability challenge! We’ve been on the water for a few weeks working on race plans and tweaking technique as we prepare for tomorrow’s race at Heart Lake in Brampton. Tomorrow our 2018 Newbie’s will learn what it’s all about! They will see why we spend so much time in the gym for strength and cardio training. They will finally see what this "dragon boating" thing is all about! 2018 will be another busy year for Rowbust. Not only have we spent the winter training to get stronger and fitter, we also spent a lot of time fundraising because this July we will be sending two crews to International Competition. Our membership worked tirelessly to raise the necessary funds to send these crews overseas and once again our efforts have "paid off"! First, we will race in Florence, Italy at the IBCPC Participatory Dragon Boat Festival. This event is the Ultimate Celebration of Sisterhood & Survivorship for Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat racing teams from around the globe! This will be Rowbust's 3rd time attending this event that takes place every four years. Next, we will compete in Szeged, Hungary to defend our IDBF Club Crew World Championship title! We are working hard to ensure we bring the title home to Canada for the 3rd time! We are excited to share our adventures with you again this year! You can follow us on:
Paddles Up! We're on our way! Submitted by: Suzanne NewingtonRowbust paddler since 2011 Well…it’s a poorly kept secret…Rowbust win’s GOLD – again! And it was a fantastic day of racing.
After two very exciting 500m races followed by an exhilarating 2000m race where we over took the Coburg Survivor Thrivers in the first 500m stretch and the Vermont Dragonheart Sisters in the third 500m stretch to finish with a time of 10:31:95, we secured the top spot on the podium once again making us SEVEN TIME National BCS Champions! All of the usual Thank You’s apply – our Coaches, our trainers, our families, our friends, everyone at Movati and Fanshawe Yacht Club, our many volunteers, our many supporters and sponsors and most definitely all of the Rowbust members who help to make this crew strong by pushing us to be our best! We have met many other BCS teams over the last seven years. There’s not a single one that we have not enjoyed competing with. No matter how far we roam we always find new friends. Thank you to the ladies of Coburg and Vermont for coming to Nationals and for making it fun! We look forward to meeting you on the start line again! The paddling season for Rowbust is not over just yet. We still have almost two months of paddling to do on Fanshawe lake including this Friday when we will participate in the Pendragons 2km Fun Night, and Saturday September 17th in Stratford. We will also host a Family & Friends night, if you have ever wanted to try paddling a dragon boat here is your chance! More info on this will be posted on our Facebook page as it becomes available. Thank you for your continued support! Rowbust Friday August 19, 2016 – 200m Race Day
What a gorgeous day to start the 2016 Canadian National Club Crew Championships at the Welland International Flatwater Centre! The water was as clear as the sky, no rain and it was not stiflingly hot…we all remember and reflected on the chilly temperature and torrential downpours of last year! This day couldn’t have been more perfect. Today almost felt like a bit of a holiday because our first race wasn’t scheduled until 1:50pm. Many of us were able to sleep in, lounge around in the morning, have a good solid breakfast not worry about rushing to get to race site. We arrived at race site for 10:30am and got to watch some great racing. Our tents are parked on the start line and we quickly became the line of red shirts on the shore line as we watched our friends in the Canadian Senior Dragon Boat Club (CSDC) alliance teams get their division heat races in. There is quite a bit of waiting around due to the number of teams entered in the event, and as usual, in the Rowbust tent there was lots of laughter and singing (I’m sure Bruno Mars would have been impressed with the rendition of Uptown Funk coming from our tent) while we waited for our race to be called. Soon race # 41 was called to marshalling. We grabbed our gear and made the trek. An air of excitement surrounding us as we prepared to meet a team we’ve never competed with before. All the usual pleasantries and “nice to meet you’s” were exchanged as we made our way through the marshalling tents to the boats. But once we are loaded in the boats and push off the dock, the niceties are put on hold. On the start line there is quiet. Each of us going over the race plan in our minds. The announcer calls all boats to the starting blocks and Shirley uses the back paddlers to ease us in to position while the strokes move us left and right for perfect placement. All boats are in place, the announcer calls us to “Attention!” Laura and Shirley give the “Ready Ready “ call and our paddles snap in to race ready position. Our start was strong and we burst off the start line. Shirley and Laura calling the “ups” as we changed gears up to our 200m race pace. We poured on the power and moved out in front of the other boats. Every paddle hitting every stroke as our power builds and we cross the finish line first! Looking to the left from our position in lane 1 we see that we secured the first win. But this was just the heat race, we’ll have to do the exact same to pull it out in the final scheduled for 3:25pm. After a snack and a rest we are called down to marshalling again for our 200m final, race #53. Here we got to visit with friends that we first met in Italy back in 2014. The Vermont Dragonheart BCS team has come to play. Not only did Vermont bring their BCS crew they brought their entire club of 97 paddlers to compete across a range of divisions. Right now you’re thinking “why is a US team competing at the Canadian National Championships?” The short answer – for fun! They are ineligible to win in the event but they can race and we welcome their competition. We’ve met them in competition in a number of events at home (ours and theirs) and away, they are a great group of people and we enjoy the comradery. For our final 200m race we are positioned in lane 2. Again we come up to the starting block together and again we blast off the line and power it all the way down the course on Shirley and Laura’s commands. Just to be safe Laura calls us up and up as we pull our boat across the finish line, she won’t have us stop too soon and makes sure that we are all across the line before she calls “let it run” and we see that we took top spot again. The 200m race day is done, but we’ve not secured our place on the podium just yet. We still have a great deal of work to do. There is nothing to take for granted. Just because we’ve done it before does mean it can’t be taken away. There’s not a single Rowbuster who doesn’t want to have that gold medal draped around her neck on Sunday so tonight, we eat well and we rest. And eat well we did!! A beautiful family style dinner of gourmet salads and pizza were laid out for us at the Red Stone Winery not too far from our hotel. It was the perfect end to a good day of racing. As always, lots of laughs and stories told, including those of the different (and extended) routes that were taken to get to the hotel yesterday…really ladies? 4 hours?!? After a beautiful al fresco dinner at Red Stone we retreated to our hotel to crowd around many tv’s to take in the women’s and men’s 400m relay races at the Olympics in Rio before retiring for the night. For Rowbust, Saturday is a free day and we are not scheduled to race. Sunday we will race two 500m races and our favourite the 2000m to round out our weekend. Have a great weekend everyone! Stay tuned on Facebook and Twitter for our development through the day on Sunday. Paddles up! The crew has been chosen and the training is complete!
This Thursday, August 18th we will travel the short distance to Welland, ON to our home away from home, the Welland International Flat Water Centre, to compete in the 2016 Canadian National Club Crew Championships. Our races are scheduled as follows:
The full schedule of racing and results is available at: http://www.dragonboat.ca/#!canadian-championships/cbs9 There is also a live feed of the event to view at: https://vimeopro.com/dragonboatmvp/2015-canadian-dragon-boat-championships All spectators are welcome, if you'd like to make the trek to watch us live we'd love to have you in the stands cheering us on! The Welland International Flatwater Centre is located at 16 Townline Tunell Road, Welland, ON L3C 2T4 We'll keep you posted throughout the weekend with many Facebook, Twitter and Blog posts! Thank you for your continued support! It’s no secret, it’s all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…we have retained our World Champion status!
Each of the three 200 meter races were close…too close for comfort! But comfort is not what we’re here for. We had some serious competition. It could have gone either way. We didn’t nail our first start but the rest of the race was good. We nailed our second start but the rest of the race was “crap”. But, the third race, we finally got our sh*t together and hit every stroke on our way down the race course. It felt so good, but at the end as we looked to our right, from lane one, we really didn’t know who crossed the finish line first. They were right on us all the way down the course! As we paddled back to the beach we got the “thumbs up” from our supporters! Yep, we’d done it! On a personal note…for each race I wore a button of Gail Hathaway’s smiling face. So that it wouldn’t interfere with my paddling I wore it low on my jersey, near the hemline. At no time during the competition did the button bother me to be there. That is until the final race. I felt the edge of the button dig in to my leg on every stroke! Gail was in the boat, pushing us along, making sure we crossed that finish line first. Thank you Brown Sugar! After landing on the beach there were no high-fives, there were hugs all around as we made our way back up the beach and through the paddle arch made by the other BCS teams. “Congratulations” and “we’ll get you next time” heard all the way through. All in the name of good sportsmanship. It really is an honour for all of us to be here, at this level of competition. But mostly to still be on the green side of the grass, living and breathing and sharing our love of paddling with our friends around the world. We didn’t come all this way just to come all this way…we came to win! A huge thank you to the ladies of Paddles & Pearls Charleston (US), Abreast of Life New Zealand, Dragons Abreast Sydney and Missabittatitti Australia. You pushed us to be at our best! Now that the competition is complete, it is time to celebrate! We had a pizza party in “Cheryl’s Courtyard” and some much needed social time. Over the next few days we will tour around Adelaide. A large group of us will be taking a day trip over to Kangaroo Island. And by the end of the week many will be going on to explore more of Australia. This marks the end of our adventures at CCWC Australia. Thank you for following us, for staying up through the night and watching the live feed and cheering us on from home! Your encouraging texts, emails and comments are very much appreciated! We can feel your support all the way around the world! Wow! What a day! A fire has been lit. And today it burned hot within the Rowbust women. Today we competed in three 500m races. And in all three races we crossed the finish line before the competition. We wanted it. We dug deep. We took it. Every race counted as it is the cumulative time of all three races per distance that determines the winner. Each visit to the marshaling area was an opportunity to meet new people, swap paddling stories and even brag some about our respective clubs. The women of the BCS division can be described in one word, genuine. There are no actual rivalries. We all know what has brought us together. There is no need to discuss it. There is no time for it. We are busy living each day, enjoying our time together, on the water and off. However, on every start line there were are no friendly exchanges. There is only us, in our boats, visualizing the race we are about to undertake. The calm before the storm. We hear the call of the starter…”Attention!” …and of our drummer & stern together “Ready Ready!” And then the starting gun and we take our first stroke to get the boat up and moving. And another and another and soon we are up to our race pace, Laura and Shirley calling us in to power to get out ahead of the other boats. Our long, power stroke carrying us down the race course. A few more power sections, every paddler giving everything they’ve got to give. Soon we are called in to a finish and we bring the rate “Up!” and “Up!”, keeping the stroke long and strong as we speed across the finish line. We did it. We were the first ones across. We won. We came all this way to defend. And we did. Tomorrow is the 200m race day. We shall lite another fire! Today, Friday April 1, 2016 was the first day of racing at the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) Club Crew World Championships (CCWC).
Our 2km race was scheduled for 3:00pm (race #7). The bus arrived to pick us up at the complex at 12 noon. After a short and sweet "pep" talk we were on our way. We arrived at race site to find an Aussie team squatting in our tent space! "Somehow" the Rowbust sign that was posted inside the tent was flipped over and they thought it was there tent space. A few words exchanged and they were vacating our space. With a bit of time before we were to be called to marshaling, many headed down to the waters edge to check out the action while others hit up the vendor section to get an event shirt before they were all gone. There was a general feeling of excitement in the air as teams were warming up for their first races of the event. People everywhere were running, skipping and stretching in preparation. The call to marshal race #7 came around 2:30pm. It was "go" time. Gear in hand, we made our way to the marshaling area and took our place in the shute for lane 6. IDBF officials checked our ID tags, race number and ensured that our paddles carried the proper IDBF licence. Here we had another chance to catch up with our Aussie friends that we met in 2014 in Italy before we loaded the boats and the niceties were over...for now. Loading the boats was a little different than we are used to. There are no docks. The boats are beached. We load back to front and the volunteers push us off the sand. Different than we are used to, but it works! We were the sixth of six boats in our 2km race. Five of these boats were in the BCS division, and one in the All Cancer Survivor (ACS) division. The 2km race is a staggered start with 10 to 15 seconds between boats. We were with last boat to leave the start line. We successfully closed the gap between us and boat 5 on the first 500m stretch. They were given the right of way on the turn but we overtook them on the second 500m stretch as we approached the second turn. There was a lot of chatter in our boat. Key voices shouting words of encouragement as we dug deep and paddled on through turns two and three chasing the boats ahead of us. Laura (drummer) and Shirley (stern) called us in to power when we needed it and we gave them everything we had. We crossed the finish line with nothing left in the gas tank. Our shoulders and backs tired from the dog fight. There is nothing like the feeling of crossing that finish line after giving it your all. And we had done just that. Everyone in the race had done the same and it was obvious by the smiles and laughter as we unloaded and high fives exchanged between all competitors. Because of the staggered start the results of the 2km races are not known until the times are calculated by the officials. So, we waited....patiently. Soon, Coach Sue emerged with news. SILVER! We did it! Our 18 months of training had paid off. No, we didn't take the gold. But for our very first race of our 2016 paddling season, to take a silver medal at CCWC is very exciting. Many of the teams we raced against are at the end of their season, when we don't even have our boats out of storage yet. We wanted competition. We got it! And it feels great! This is what will help build up the BCS division which is still in it's infancy. Medals were presented at 4:00pm. Again, we waited patiently. Some of us chatting with the Brisbane team and we learned that they had not told their paddlers the results. They wanted it to be a surprise. When the results were announced, Brisbane erupted in joyous celebration of their victory. Many of their members were seen wiping tears from their eyes as they congratulated each other while everyone, Rowbust included, applauded their success. Results
There are two more days of racing ahead of us. Tomorrow (Saturday) we will race three 500m races and on Sunday three 200m races. Every race counts. These are not heats and finals. The winners are decided by their combined times in each distance. Early to bed for us tonight! |
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July 2019
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