YCMA Middle Island Cup

IRON WINNERS

Women’s Coastal 1x: Isa Scheunpflug, RHKYC, 05:03:00 Open Coastal 1x: Andrew Lawson, Lantau Boat Club, 04:18:27 Women’s Coastal 2x: Back B4 Sunset (Coco Au, Serenade Liu), RHKYC, 06:35:26 Mixed Coastal 2x: The Dragons for Robert Wilson (Jasmine Monteil, Matt Lo), Lantau Boat Club, 04:39:08 Open Coastal 2x: Cedric & Niral (Cedric Podevin, Niral Maru), RHKYC, 06:22:49 Women’s Coastal 4x+: Oarsome Angels (Danielle de St Jorre, Alex Mihos, Katy Dhupelia, Fifi Chan, Thomas Yuen), RHKYC, 04:35:08 Mixed Coastal 4x+: Crazy Camels (Vincent McIlduff, Michele Lam, Ryochi Ishida, Jennifer Haigh, Joey Kan), RHKYC, 04:21:28 Open Coastal 4x+: Og’s Dogs (Abi Watt, Calvin Tang, Chris Knollman, Josep Ferrer Flehr, Mark Hughes), RHKYC, 03:35:58

RELAY WINNERS

Open Coastal 2x: Xian Star (Sandy Lau, Henrick Cheng, Kouer Zhang, Gavin Yao), RHKYC, 5:10:23 Open Coastal 4x+: New Star (Gary Sin, Eric Woo, Jeffery Chan, Joanne Chan, Fung Wing Chan, Richard Yuen, Geraldine Li, Tak Ho Tang, Terrence Poon, Celia Chan), New Star Rowing Club, 4:10:54

the other international entrant in this year’s Iron race; joining a RHKYC crew. Having trained together as a full crew for only 1 day before the race, the team performed remarkably well.

Crews across all events put in valiant efforts, with Og’s Dogs (Abi Watt, Calvin Tang, Chris Knollman, Josep Ferrer Flehr, Mark Hughes) winning the Carter Plate, awarded each year to the Open Iron crew with the fastest time.

WORDS: JONATHAN LUK | IMAGES: STANLEY LAM | MIKE LAW

What do most people look forward to in the build up to spooky Halloween? Dragon boat racing of course!

On 30 October, the RHKYC hosted its third dragon boat race of the year. The YCMA Middle Island Cup is one of the most interesting races in Hong Kong as it is a head-to-head race over a 1km course with two 180-degree turns. The competition at Middle Island saw fierce competition from over 35 teams including universities, youth organisations and corporations. Over 52 races took place during the day in both small and standard boats with crews of 10 and 20 paddlers respectively.

In the spirit of Halloween, teams dressed up in costume and our RHKYC paddlers were no exception; they came as Spartan warriors. Chants of ‘Sparta! Sparta!’ were heard throughout the day! Other costume themes included Spanish dancers, ethnic groups and even Buzz Lightyear.

After the important eye-dotting ceremony at noon time, races re-commenced with the YCMA 25th Anniversary and Junior categories. Both had exciting races, especially a close finish between HKUST and HKBU in the Finals. Our very own Royal X Juniors did us proud over three amazing races against the VRC and Lamma U18s.

With the small boat categories having raced in the morning, it was the turn of the larger, standard boats in the afternoon. The RHKYC had teams in the Women’s and Open categories with both making it through to the semi-finals. The Finals of the Women’s Standard was a tight race with the Renegades finishing just ahead of the RHKYC team.

The day’s event was hugely successful; a special thanks to all the volunteers, organisers and club staff, for their time and effort to ensure the day ran smoothly. And a big thank you to the title sponsor YCMA for their support. We are extra thrilled to have YCMA as the title sponsor this year as the event generated awareness for the development of youth sports in our community. It also showcased our Club’s continued commitment to inspiring the younger generation. And we’re going to do it all again in March next year!