I was down on the docks last night, Word of this is spreading like wildfire
CIBC deliberately fielded 13 men, 7 women for the 2000m Guts 'n Glory Race. 8 women are the minimum allowable in a mixed race. During the line-up the female drummer put her hand up to act as a paddler.
To see how much of a difference that can make over 2000m's.. compare the times of the Men's and Women's only races
http://www.adbf.com/racing/2003_adbf_results.pdfThere's a lot of politics going on at CIBC (formally TD Thunder). Apparently the team was falling apart through the season, with someone, (either team owner or manager) overriding all the coach's decisions. Which is not a surprise, they blew apart last year in Rome at the World Championships due to similar circumstances.
There's a lot at stake too, the winner's of the Guts 'n Glory Race earn free entry into the 2004 Alcan Dragonboat Festival. CIBC being DQ'd means the win will go to the Portland Mixed Crew.
Apparently there are some real sore losers on the CIBC crew too, a handful of them are saying the Roli Dragons won Bronze (they only placed 5th) because the race was fixed. We got lucky because we had the "Lo family" boat, which is the lighter version of the 6-16. I guess they conveniently forgot that there nearly all the boats fielded in the comp A final had those same lighter 6-16s. The "Lo Family" boat is no different.
(and for those on Steamrollers, you guys remember how we did in the lighter boats at the Regatta right?
)
To top it all off? CIBC were asking that medals be given for the 2000m Guts 'n Glory Race (Only a trophy was given). Why? Because they didn't win any other medals in the Competitive or Men's divisions.
