Congrats to those who competed in Penticton!
What an amazing weekend of sunshine, pool time, camaraderie, great food, and super dragon boat racing! We ran one mixed team and one women's team.
The weather was idyllic and although there was some smoke it was not too bad. Winds were nonexistent in the mornings to light in the afternoons. We held our traditional team dinner at the Riverside Motel on Saturday night and it was yum!
Our Penticton crews consisted of Michele, Laney, Pat W, Bryan, Darlene, Ian, Pete, Warren, Brent J, Bob, Lori, Denise, Robbin, Linda, Sandra, David W, Rob, Dave D, Marg, Bruce, Dave F, Marianne, Nicole, Carol, Marjorie, Christine, Jola, Patty, Sally, Marlene and Trish. Thanks for leading warmups, Darlene; and for keeping us on course, Bob, Dave F, Sally and Trish!
A big thanks to Sandra and her husband Paul who were a huge help in getting us paddlers to fill out our women's team. Thanks to the ladies from Paul's team, the TCC Dragoneers: Rachel, Sherry, Gail and Leanne.
This weekend proved that all the hard work we've been putting in since April has paid off. Our results show proof of our excellent coaching and our dedication to our sport. Thank you Denise for having us race-ready, sorted out, and updated throughout the season and over the weekend.
Our women's team started off strong and placed second in their first three races, increasing their time each race. By Sunday, we were in the 20th position of 44 teams. This put us in the Jade Final A Division. Despite coming last, it was only by a couple of seconds and it was the women's team's fastest time of the weekend. Great going ladies!
Our mixed team took home silver after strong performances in their first three races, placing 2nd, 2nd, 1st, and then 2nd in the Diamond Final A! By Sunday, we were placed 15 out of 30 mixed teams. Strong starts and finishes were noted by those on the shore. Great job!
Team history was made with the Steers Challenge race with Dave F at the helm. We had to race down the 500m course, then make a full turn, and then guide the boat back through a 500m slalom course set up with 10 buoys. Each missed buoy was a 5-second loss. We were the third team to do the course (the first to complete it) as the first two teams decided to just paddle back after experiencing the difficulty. It was great fun and resulted in big excitement and hilarious chaos with calls coming from many in our boat. The women's team, FLCC Race Crew won the challenge, and we are still awaiting our results. Thanks to Dave for leading us through the course along with Trish and Denise's directions up front. We can't wait until we can do this one again!
We appreciate and thank the family and friends who came out to cheer us on! The weekend came to a close with cold ones in the beer garden before some of us headed home, and others enjoyed another night in beautiful Penticton.
Here are our race results:
Day 1----
MIXED
Race 4 – 2:17.15 (2nd)
Race 22 – 2:20.20 (2nd)
WOMEN
Race 15 – 2:34.46 (2nd)
Race 33 – 2:32.41 (2nd)
STEERS CHALLENGE (1000m) -- still awaiting our result.
Day 2----
WOMEN
Race 45 – 2:31.43 (2nd) - Jade Semi
Race 69 – 2:29.04 (4th) - Jade Final A
MIXED
Race 54 – 2:19.54 (1st) - Diamond Semi
Race 75 – 2:14.22 (2nd) - Diamond Final A
Thank you our photographer, Jola!
Here is our Facebook album.
Next up is our final race of the season, the Oddball Fall Classic on Sept. 23.
