Dragon Boat West

2nd Annual Rose Regatta Dragon Boat Race & Festival 2010

http://www.strosehospitals.org/Patients_And_Visitors/201571 (http://www.strosehospitals.org/Patients_And_Visitors/201571)

Paddle for a Purpose
To Support Those Affected by Breast Cancer

Saturday, October 16, 2010
MonteLago Village
Lake Las Vegas

About 60 teams expected. 
250 meters
2 seeding races, then advances for qualifiers
1 day race

The community’s collective paddle power will raise funds for
St. Rose Dominican Hospitals and our WomensCare Centers of Excellence
breast health services, including medical care and psychosocial support for
uninsured women and men facing breast cancer.

 (http://www.strosehospitals.org/stellent/groups/public/@xinternet_con_srd/documents/webcontent/201588.jpg)

(http://www.strosehospitals.org/stellent/groups/public/@xinternet_con_srd/documents/webcontent/201579.jpg)

Race grid is full for Vegas...breakdown of divisions...

5 Separate Racing Divisions:

- Breast Cancer Survivor = 8 teams

- Women = 5 teams

- Hospital campus = 3 teams

- Community co-ed = 37 teams

- Club/Out of State co-ed = 7 teams

I haven't see the race grid which will be out in the next week or two, but I believe the Club Crew division will be represented by the following teams:

Arizona Dragon Riders
Diesel Fury
Absolute Sake
Colorado Flying Dragons
Rogue Warriors
X-Generals
Vancity Thunder

Should be a blast!  :D

I'll be there!

_{(In the vicinity...on Las Vegas Blvd.)}

Race Grid is up! Should be a blast!!

http://www.strosehospitals.org/stellent/groups/public/@xinternet_con_srd/documents/webcontent/210648.pdf

Hey Dr. Evil - it was nice meeting you this weekend at the races.  Hope you had a good time!

-stan (flying dragons)

Hey Stan! Nice meeting you too. Good to see that you're now on the forum instead of lurking! ;)

Congrats on the medal. Wish we could have had the opportunity to race off. Make sure you post details of the Denver Festival as it is one that gets little to no exposure here on the forum. Hope to cross paths with you again!

Race results are up:

http://www.strosehospitals.org/stellent/groups/public/@xinternet_con_srd/documents/webcontent/210960.pdf


Also, I did email Amy Godsoe, the Race Director, with my feedback on the festival which I'll share with all on the forum.

Excerpt of my email:

Hello Amy:

Hope you are well and getting a chance to relax from the Rose Regatta! I am the coach of Vancity Thunder and I just wanted to say “Thank You”, for running a great event for a worthy cause.  I also wanted to take the opportunity to provide you with feedback on the event.

The good stuff:
•   Great event overall
•   Great venue
•   The volunteers were awesome
•   The race management was good by keeping the schedule on time
•   I thought you did a great job communicating with us ahead of time and keeping the website up to date with info
•   I thought the food selection was good and prices fairly reasonable.
•   Nice to have the rental tent for an additional cost. Money well spent!
•   250m format worked well for that venue and was good for spectator viewing.

Areas for improvement:
Big one was the consistency and equality of the boats, especially with the second set of boats. It became a factor in the afternoon heats starting with Heat 30 and Boat # 2. Every heat the club teams raced that afternoon was in that set of boats as it was all even numbered heats. Boat 2 was older and heavier than the other 2 boats. If you look at the race results you will see the skewing of results. For example, in Heat 30, Let it Ride (Absolute Sake), came dead last in that Heat, but went on to win the final. If you compare their times from earlier in the day and their final times, there should not have been that much variance in their times over a 250m course where weather & currents were not a factor. When you look at the semi final heats, both us and Rogue lost our heats. For us, the variance in times was 7-8 seconds slower than our other 2 heat times. Not saying we would have won our race…. But it would have been closer. If you look at Rogue Warriors, they posted some of the fastest times of the day of any crew, but Boat 2 impacted them from reaching the final.

Don’t get me wrong…I am not contesting the results. It is what it is. We accept the outcome. I appreciate the event is not necessarily geared to club teams and is intended as a fundraiser and bring awareness to a worthy cause. When it comes to racing though, all any team asks for is that the races be fair.

Another point I would like to suggest is perhaps offer a consolation final for the club teams. All the teams were from out of state and we have come a long way to race. For the teams that do not advance to the finals, this is a good way to get one more race in. It doesn’t necessarily have to be for medals (although that would be nice!), but ribbons or a trophy for the winner of the Consolation final would be good.

With the Finals, instead of a 3 boat, “everyone is guaranteed a medal” final, make it a 4 boat final. You have the lanes set up already. Take the next fastest time from the semi’s and give them the 4th spot to race. This would have made for more exciting racing and would make the teams work for the medals. This is also one way to compensate for the impact of Boat 2 by having a contingency whereby one more team can race in the final.  There would have been no impact to the regatta in terms of timing/scheduling.

Take my feedback for what it’s worth. I thought it was great and would love to come back. I think you may see more club teams make the foray to your event which I think will be a good thing.

Thank you again. All the best.

Ha, I figured it was time to sign on.  Funny, I figured when I got down to LV, I would look see if I could find Dr. Evil.  It happens that you were the first person I asked.

I read your feedback on the races and I fully agree. The variance in boats was frustrating. We drew the slow boat in our first race and the final. We experienced a 5 second difference. It’s unfortunate as the results might have been different.  I made the mistake in the final by not requesting a matched boat. You live and learn.

I’ll post some info on our Denver races for you guys.

Boat variances?  Sounds familiar...like another race...hmmmmmm