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Paddling Around the Island in 2021

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Paddling Around the Island

The 45km Mercedes-Benz Around the Island Race is one of the most prestigious and most anticipated races of the year for outrigger canoe paddlers in Hong Kong. Before the pandemic, the race drew paddlers from different clubs around the world, however this year again it was a domestic race with Hong Kong crews competing.

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Atotal of 18 OC6 crews entered the race with the distribution of crews across categories significantly shifting compared to last year. The least represented category was mixed standard, with only two crews competing: Victoria Recreation Club (VRC) and South Lantau Paddle Club (SLPC). The women’s unlimited category was back in action this year with three contestants: RHKYC, Hong Kong Outrigger Canoe Club (HKOCC Wahine), and Stormys Outrigger Canoe Club. VRC, RHKYC, and Lamma Outrigger Canoe Club (LOCC) all raced in the mixed unlimited category.

The largest representation was in the open category, with ten crews overall; five in open Standard: VRC, RHKYC Uhane, Stormys, RHKYC Te Ariki Rua, and RHKYC Hoi Ying, and five in open unlimited: RHKYC, VRC, Flying Fish Sports Club (FFS), HKOCC Tane, and another VRC.

in 2021

WORDS: ELENA KUCHERENKO | IMAGES: STANLEY LAM

RHKYC women’s unlimited, with two paddlers new to racing on the club’s strongest women’s crew and one of whom also raced ATIR in an outrigger canoe for the first time, showed focus and determination coming first in the category with a time of 4:23:39. The course record of 4:00:07 was set by a Hawaiian crew a few years ago. This could be a target to work towards for the next year’s RHKYC women’s crew.

RHKYC open unlimited successfully defended their champion’s title with an incredible win against VRC by a heart-stopping two seconds with a quick time of 3h 44m 7s in what was arguably the most intense and nerve-wracking finish ever seen on the course. ‘A truly heart-attack finish’, as described by one of the teammates.

proud of because it was the first Around the Island Race for five out of the ten crew members, four of which completed their introduction and development courses with RHKYC this year! This shows extreme commitment to the sport and making admirable progress week after week.

In the open standard category, RHKYC Uhane finished second to VRC with 4h 36m 40s, which is no small feat, considering the challenges thrown at this crew; support boat engine failure, huli’s and a ‘t-boning’ collision courtesy of our friends at VRC. RHKYC Uhane’s support boat broke down at Cape D’Aguilar rendering all further sea changes impossible. The crew members that were in the canoe at the time expecting to be swapped out had to keep on paddling to the finish line and ‘iron’ the rest of the race. This crew ending up paddling for over 30 km, with the last change taking place behind Middle Island and literally only five minutes before the finish line.

RHKYC Te Ariki Rua finished last with 5h 1m 52s. A great achievement for the crew with five out of nine paddlers new to the race, as well as the most senior paddler and steersperson of all crews competing on the day, Antony Wood. The crew blended very well and paddled hard on the day, despite a very short window they had to train together before the race.

a sea change with a fresh crew, having a chance of a podium finish when the rigging in the front ‘ama’ suddenly snapped. The support boat was on the scene immediately, and the safety boat was there within minutes too. The crew had to use a rope as temporary rigging so the ama was not lost whilst another rope was used as a harness tied to the front ‘iako’ to tow the canoe back to Middle Island. With everything said, this year’s ATIR showed us not only how strong we are and how hard we fight as a club, but also the importance of safety procedures and great organisation. We hope for more fun and great results next year!

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