Shenzhen’s Corporate Rowing Regatta

WORDS: CHERRY CHIU | IMAGES: SHENZHEN’S CORPORATE ROWING REGATTA

Contacts

Rowing Manager rowingmanager@rhkyc.org.hk

The border has reopened!! It was very exciting to join attend as guest at the Shenzhen’s Corporate Rowing regatta ( 深圳市企業賽艇友誼賽 ) at Dasha River, Shenzhen on 18 February.

This rowing regatta was organised by the Shenzhen Nanshan People’s Government and the Shenzhen Nanshan Bureau of Sports.

We took the high-speed rail from the West Kowloon station to Futian high speed rail station in the morning. It was a short and sweet 14-minute ride, immigration and customs were cleared at the West Kowloon station, just like what I remembered three years ago. The race venue is at the Dasha River in the Nanshan district, 20 minutes away from the Futian station. Once we arrived at the venue, we immediately felt the warm welcome by the locals as there were so many supporters and cheerleaders standing on both sides of the river. The cheerleaders took their role very seriously, with fancy costumes and synchronized choreography. There were even lion dance and Chinese drum playing!

Rowing Captain Judy Chan sat on the stroke seat, together with Sana Qu, Nick Shao and me on bow seat joined the opening ceremony where boats rowed across the start line and then stopped and waved at both sides of the river. The master of ceremony introduced each team. Everyone in the spectator stand including the mayor and vice mayor of

Coastal Rowing coastalrowing@rhkyc.org.hk

Shatin Men’s Racing shatinrowingmen@rhkyc.org. hk

Shatin Women’s Racing shatinrowingladies@rhkyc.org.hk

Shenzhen cheered for us and welcomed us as the only visiting crew, overall great atmosphere along the river.

Followed by the opening ceremony, the competitions started. There were two categories of races: coxless quad and coxed eights. Dasha River is not as wide as the Shing Mun River in Shatin in Hong Kong, so it was perfect for head race to take place where two teams compete against each other. What made it even more exciting was the cheering teams on either side of the river where you can hear them during your race. Visitors along the river also stopped to watch the races!

Races ended around mid-day, during lunch we explored collaboration opportunities as a result of the border reopening. There was also discussion on how Shenzhen rowing clubs and work closely with the Club to strengthen the connection by visiting each other more often and co-organize training camps and events together.

I feel so honoured to be representing the Club as the only team from Hong Kong to join this regatta.

This experience made me feel very excited knowing there will be opportunities to row in locations outside of Hong Kong. This is an excellent experience for me to broaden my horizon of different rowing culture and it really warms my heart to be sharing the love of rowing with others.