Perfect Ending to the Season!
DRAGON BOAT CONTACTS dragonboat@rhkyc.org.hk
W O RD S: P O SIT L AO H A PH A N
Rowing he Club’s Royal X team had a perfect ending to the season at the Discovery Bay Dragon Boat Races. The long-awaited event was held at Tai Pak Beach, Discovery Bay. The race originally scheduled for 10 October was postponed to 24 October due to bad weather. While this was a disappointment and there were concerns that the race would be cancelled altogether, the captains and the coaches of the Royal X team did not allow this delay and disruption to distract the team. The goal was to end the season strong and the team used the extra time to train even harder and get better prepared. The race had a slogan of “Reboot Yourself with Us” which was very much the sentiment of the day given Covid-19 restrictions caused almost all of the scheduled dragon boat races to be cancelled this year. The Discovery Bay event included typical Women’s, Men’s and Mixed categories as well as Under 23 and Community team categories. This allowed for broader participation in the races that was wonderful to see. Our Royal X team was very well represented with nearly 60 Club paddlers participating on the day. This was very impressive considering that the change in dates caused conflicts for many key members of the team, including
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| DECEMBER 2021 AHOY!
Open Race and two mixed teams in the COC Mixed Races. The path to the finals included a number of preliminary heats. Points were awarded based on the team’s finishing position for each heat. The crews that accumulated the most combined points across all heats in a given category were then able to advance to the finals. All of our crews performed well in the opening heats. Both the lady’s and men’s crews advanced to the cup finals while our Mixed Blue and Yellow teams advanced to the Cup and Plate finals respectively. some that had already committed to run the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon that was being held on the same day.
Facing tough competition from the Lantau Boat Club Pirates and the Filipino Dynamo, our women’s team maintained their dominance throughout the day with a first-place finish in the finals. Similarly, our men’s team were unstoppable. The team finished every race from the heats to the final in first place with faster times in each and every single race. The men’s team beat a very strong field with
The team arrived bright and early to a windy, cold and overcast beach that would ultimately turn into a beautiful day at Discovery Bay. The team was focused and ready to go for the last race of the season. We knew our competitors would be hungry for wins as well and we needed to bring it. The level of CONTACTS uncertainty and anxiety was notable, Rowing Manager rowingmanager@rhkyc.org.hk yet unnecessary. It turned out to be a fantastic day of racing. Royal X team fielded four crews: a women’s team in the Sinopec Cup Ladies’ Race, a men’s team in the HKR Cup
Coastal Rowing coastalrowing@rhkyc.org.hk Shatin Men’s Racing shatinrowingmen@rhkyc.org. hk Shatin Women’s Racing shatinrowingladies@rhkyc.org.hk
