Dragon Boat West

Taking a poll here...

Anyone out there appreciate winning ribbons in many festival's "B" finals?  Is it a case of "better than nothing"?

Should medals be awarded for the "A" finals and "B" finals get nothing?

What has happened at events you've attended?

What do you like and what don't you like?

I appreciate all constructive feedback. Thanks.

Funny that your title says bookmarks because that is what I call them too!  :lol:

However I would like to think that having something is better than nothing but only for the top 3 finalists and not 4th and so on.

Having some bling bling is usually the goal and looks better on one's paddle with the rest of the collection of mementos in my opinion.

Getting a ribbon when finishing say, 5th overall (cough, bastards, cough) at a festival while other teams finishing much further down the ladder still receiving some real bling seems a little weird.  ;)  But as I told my teammates this past weekend, I'd much rather finish lower in a higher division than get some hardware in a lower division.

Honestly, they end up going into a box semi-forgotten in a closet, whether it's a medal or a ribbon, so ultimately it really doesn't make much of a difference to me.  I use book darts instead of the ribbons.   :P

Well, since you asked....

I think that receiving a medal in a championship round is definitely something to be proud of...
and I think medals should be reserved for the top 3.

Receiving a ribbon in a consolation round is also something to be proud of.
Maybe your team just moved up a division or two and even 'being' in this division was an accomplishment so a ribbon would be icing on the cake.

Regardless, receivng an award is always icing on the cake.
Having bragging rights is fantastic!

If everyone received a prize, then all the prizes would lose their value.

So... YES - I'm in favour of 'bookmarks' !!!  and remember not everyone can get a prize.  Thats what makes this a competition.

bookmarks. hmmph.

better than nothing.

What would be real cool, is if there were small decals noting the festival and date that one could put on one's paddle to mark that that paddle did do battle at that festival. That would be kinda cool. These would be given out with the wristbands for each paddler in the festival. Bling-bling for my blade! Special bling could be given out for the placement, with the nicest decals going to the higher ranking teams. Would be really cool if all dragon boat countries did this. What a way to collect decals.

Too bad that didn't happen over the last 15 years; my blades would be covered with decals, instead of the dents from paddlers who rush behind me  :x   Then again I could paddle under the granville bridge and swat away seagull poop with my paddle to cover it with stuff as well...

Decals would be awesome.  Even more awesome would be bigass gold wrestling belts for the first overall team. 

Oooh.  Title belts.  You guys in the upper divisions would have to wear them until unseated as champs.  Maybe it would screw up your timing and allow us minnow teams to catch up.  Ya right!

I'm not big on bookmarks.  They look like what I got in Grade 4 for a slow bike competition.  It is better than nothing but maybe places 1-3 in consolations can get something like dog tags or coins.  I like the decals idea.  It would be like college football with all the festivals on your paddle.

Personally, I am not a fan of the ribbons. Teams are there to compete, and handing out concolation prizes reminds me of children's sports day.

However, if it makes most people happy, then that's great. I want hardware!

Plus, I have had several medals fall apart, so I think it would be better to spend more money on nice medals than putting money into ribbons.

I LOVE the decal idea. Seriously. If any organizers are seeing this, think DECALS!

This year if you participated in any WatersEdge events you got a tee-shirt.
I like having something to commemorate the event, if its not hardware, a tee shirt goes a long way.
Perhaps the organizers can make a decal and sell them if they don't present them for consolation placements (4th, 5th, 6th).
Ribbons are nice but after you've made one fanned out array and put it in a shadow box what do you do with the others? Bookmarks...lol. Yeah right. (jmo)
~Cait

Better than nothing...when you look at it, it makes you go "ahhh that event, didnt place high or low...what is this book doing here?" lol


+100
Also perhaps a heavier more solid material? and exact placements listed on the back (some dont even say anything...It just tells you its silver but what division?)

Thanks everyone for the great feedback thus far.

I like that decals idea too...I'll look into it.

The only problem I could see with it is that many paddlers in the lower divisions don't own their own paddles, so they may respond with a "great, a decal...what the hell do I put this on?"

Intriguing idea though...

i agree with merlin, handing out ribbons "just for trying" is very sports day like.  i see no reason for the ribbons, and i know everyone is saying to commemorate the race, but shouldn't the memories just be enough?  i've only received one ribbon and i've already lost it just because it seems meaningless (bookmark? i dont even read hardcopy books anymore  :oops:).

the decals is a fun idea, although i dont know if i'd wanna put a ton of stickers onto my race paddle.  i'm sure those without their own paddles will find a place to put them to cherish.

i do think that people who compete in the "b" finals do deserve a medal tho (top 3 only, of course) since they did strive hard to earn it (sandbagging notwithstanding) and we shouldnt take that away from them.  i think that with medals tho, we should have the straps a different colour for each division so that you can tell an "a" medalist from a "b" medalist and so on.

Bumper stickers! lol

I wouldn't put them on my paddle (or my car, though others would), but i would keep them and put them somewhere as a memento.

I vote yes for decals

Throughout this whole topic I thought when people mentioned "bookmark" they really meant "ribbon" because that's all a ribbon is good for after the races  :lol: my bad.

Ribbons always seemed very childlike to me. It's good to have something rather than nothing, but while the hardware winners have bling clinking around their necks, the ribbon winners have a little piece of fabric on their chest? I have never seen a proud display of "1st in consolation"... teams I know just stick it in their pocket never to be revealed again.

Decals sound cool, but if you stick them on your blade and decide you want to go from wooden --> CF, or CF --> Better CF, you can't sell off your old blade anymore, and decals take up a lot of blade room! After a season of racing for decals, you can imagine what it'd look like.

Dog tags sound like a good option to me. Still some bling and has lots of room to commemorate the event and placement. Wearable and in some cases fashionable! and doesn't feel as lesser to a big golden cookie. Grammar, gone.

Following a successful Victoria festival many years ago where the team got some bling and put in some good race times, I made personalized decals (paddler's name) memorializing the festival. I even put our race times and placements for all heats. It was a 2" x 1" glossy clear decal printed on a laser printer. It went over really well. I did a similar decal for TD Thunder Rome crew as well a few years ago, and they appreciated it.

I would imagine festival decals to be smaller and either round (~1" diam) to go on the blad face, or a narrow strip (less than 1/2") to wrap around the paddle shaft.

Decals would also serve a useful purpose of making your blade easier to identify. Less chance of someone accidently (or purposely!) walking off with your nice CF blade. After a few festivals, the paddle could become quite unique!

But it would make it all the more sentimentally painful to break, lose or sell the paddle!

I've seen those decals! So you were the mastermind behind those ones!

I really like the narrow strip decal idea.

I'd still prefer medals, Alcan style where there's medals for the top 3 in all or most divisions.  Different straps for different divisions like doolaik mentioned would be cool though.

There's so many possible grievances with decals, having big team decals already on there, changing paddles, having a Merlin paddle (lol).  I'd rather place it on my PFD

I'm not a big fan of the ribbons/bookmarks... I think they only increase the incentive for teams to sandbag.. I've heard teams actually rejoice when they ended up in a lower Medal final rather than the Consolation final for the higher division.

As I am new to dragonboating, I would love anything that would commerate my team's achievements even a ribbon.

Sadly enough I am the guy who loses medals and ribbons.(I have too many for participating).Decals are cool for my practice paddle. I prefer my regatta postcards for memories. What would be cool are those huge ass legacy trophies, with year, team name & roster. Only need it for first place in each category. Shipping cost for out of town non returning teams would suck. 

Dunno 'bout the trophy. Alcan used to have trophies and most team members never saw it after the festival. Then the team folds and what to do with the trophy...
The teams I raced with in Germany won trophies, and sure it was fun to drink with it sitting at your table in the biergarten. But I would have preferred some bling to take back with me. Paddle decals would have been cool to have from Germany. In fact I put a bumper sticker on my paddle from a german club many years ago. Then the paddle got stolen while the Alcan paddlers' village was being taken down. :-( bummer.

Perhaps the thief likes your bumper stickers not the paddle, but alas it was time consuming to remove the stickers out in public, so *swipe* :rofl:

The big trophy is awesome but its useless if its not in your possession...Like Kripple said, you see it once and that's it...it tends to be kept by either team captains/manager/etc, but not by the individual paddlers.

I vote for smaller trophies for 1st in the categories, that every paddler/coach can receive. 5-10 inches trophies shouldn't be that cost extensive. It would make a great DB keepsake!  :D