This is OUR race! We love the 2km, and we do it well!
This was our first race in world competition. The butterflies were working overtime and we used their energy.
The 2km race is a staggered start with 15 seconds between boats. We started in the fourth position, so we had three boats to chase...just how we like it. There was no rhyme or reason for which crew started in what position but we were happy with our placement. There were a total of six boats in our race.
Before the first of three turns we passed the boat in front of us, the Pink Power Paddlers from the USA. The commentator on the live feed did not realize that we'd passed them and spent the next 500 meters calling us by their team name. He figured it out on our next turn directly in front of him....but not before he had everyone at home watching believing that we were forced wide on the first turn. This was not the case...Shirley made every turn perfect and tight to the bouys. We powered up and paddled hard the whole way and passed the next boat on the last 500 meter stretch and closed the gap between us and the boat that started in position one.
We finished with a time of 10 minutes and 59 seconds! The next fastest boats were Dragons Abreast Sydney Australia at 11 minutes and 18 seconds and Abreast in a Boat Vancouver, BC at 11 minutes and 46 seconds.
The medal presentations happen shortly after racing so we got out of the boat, debriefed the race with our coaches, grabbed our gear from the tent we are sharing with the North Lambton Super Strokers and headed to the podium area to collect our hardware. Everyone was happy and giddy, laughing, crying, shouting...just exuding pride in our accomplishment!
Facebook, emails, text messages and bbm's started to fly back and fourth with our team mates, families and friends back home sending their congratulatory messages. It is heart warming to know that we have that kind of support at home! You've all helped us get to where we are, you pushed us to be our best and we've proven that with this win!
Rowbust Dragon Boat Racing Team from London, Ontario CANADA are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!
This was our first race in world competition. The butterflies were working overtime and we used their energy.
The 2km race is a staggered start with 15 seconds between boats. We started in the fourth position, so we had three boats to chase...just how we like it. There was no rhyme or reason for which crew started in what position but we were happy with our placement. There were a total of six boats in our race.
Before the first of three turns we passed the boat in front of us, the Pink Power Paddlers from the USA. The commentator on the live feed did not realize that we'd passed them and spent the next 500 meters calling us by their team name. He figured it out on our next turn directly in front of him....but not before he had everyone at home watching believing that we were forced wide on the first turn. This was not the case...Shirley made every turn perfect and tight to the bouys. We powered up and paddled hard the whole way and passed the next boat on the last 500 meter stretch and closed the gap between us and the boat that started in position one.
We finished with a time of 10 minutes and 59 seconds! The next fastest boats were Dragons Abreast Sydney Australia at 11 minutes and 18 seconds and Abreast in a Boat Vancouver, BC at 11 minutes and 46 seconds.
The medal presentations happen shortly after racing so we got out of the boat, debriefed the race with our coaches, grabbed our gear from the tent we are sharing with the North Lambton Super Strokers and headed to the podium area to collect our hardware. Everyone was happy and giddy, laughing, crying, shouting...just exuding pride in our accomplishment!
Facebook, emails, text messages and bbm's started to fly back and fourth with our team mates, families and friends back home sending their congratulatory messages. It is heart warming to know that we have that kind of support at home! You've all helped us get to where we are, you pushed us to be our best and we've proven that with this win!
Rowbust Dragon Boat Racing Team from London, Ontario CANADA are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!