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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[blizzy]

Lethal, I was surprised to not see you shoot as much as you usually do!

[doc]

Great pics as always Lethal Weapon and Blizzy/Frederick. As paddlers we don't get to see get to see what everyone else sees but through your eyes and lens, so it's much appreciated that you're willing to put your time and effort into being there. Thank you.

Thanks to everyone involved with running the weekend.

Congrats to everyone, but especially to the teams that I know most even if you don't know me. Congrats to ultimate who made amazing use of their training time and managed to do almost what magnum did last year, and did it with what looks like much less effort.

Congrats to Masters who pulled it back in the final, I'm always astonished (last year sometimes annoyed! ) by how they'd always come back and kick us in the ass when we thought we'd have a chance There's no such thing as overestimating them...

Congrats to Kai Ikaika for winning Guts and Glory and being one of the main two teams we were worried about before the weekend ever started. I can only speak for myself, but I'm still scared of you guys. You're monsters to me, giants, and I hope I have the pleasure of racing you again over the next few years.

And finally congrats to FCRCC for taking the Comp A final by exactly 2 seconds over us. I don't think anything more needs to be said about that. The race said it all....

[Garbage Miles]

From my years as a team member on the crew ( I took this yr off ) I can honestly say the FCRCC women are what make this team ...those women rock and over the last few years have been a huge part of why the team has had huge success .

Just look at their womens time ,it says it all .....

For once, I'll have to agree with Paddlebaby.    Not that I like to agree with him, but his comment makes sense.  FCRCC women did dominate the field in both the womens and the womens G&G.  

Regarding my predictions, well, that's exactly what they were, and I was wrong.  I didn't think FCRCC could do it, but they proved me wrong.  There's something about those red jerseys that really elevates their paddling to another level.    

It's good to see Magnum take 2nd spot.  You did one better than I had anticipated.  

Although Kai dropped to 3rd, they still killed it in the Open final and the G&G.  It looked like they were just 1 second short of passing Lifescan in the G&G, which would mean they would have passed 12 teams that started ahead of them.  Very nice video as well.  I'd like to see LARD's version of events as you overtook them.  

The most surprising result of the weekend was the Masters team edging out Ultimate.  All season, Ultimate was faster.  I guess Masters have a bag of tricks that they only pull out for the final race.

Best race to watch.  It had to be Competitive D.  8 teams crossing the finish line at nearly the same time.  Now that is racing.

Thank you Lethal, superduper and blizzy for posting the pics.  I hope others have more photos and videos to share.   Anything happen in the beer garden?  

[Garbage Miles]

I'm very proud of the U23 team for taking a bronze medal in Open division, showing that they can stay with the big guys and medalling by just 0.02 of a second!

Is Magnum U23?  Which paddlers were on the U23 team for the Open?

[LittleSchrodinger]

About half a boat's worth of Magnum paddles for U23 as well, yours truly included. The other half of the boat's loaded with Eric Hamber, RaceFace, and Red Fusion paddlers.

[fisherguy]

my only 'complaint' is that there was no plaque, bookmark, NOTHING for the dragonzone teams race winners. were we the only ones who got nada or are there other races like this too? we were joking that even a dollar store ribbon and a little recognition would have been nice....esp since our team started off with dragonzone and stuck with them for over 10 years. we went  from a rec E or F (whatever the lowest division was in 1999) to finishing in comp B this year. if we aren't the 'perfect poster kids' for dragonzone, i don't know who is! i think we deserve a little something, don't you? 

I completely agree. FCRCC has already promoted their community centre. DZ can't just stop at simply naming an Alcan race after its facilities. Rewarding prizes -> creates an incentive for the competitors to try hard -> faster races -> better promotion of DZ.

I actually feel that there should be two dragonzone races.  One for more competitive teams who practice 2 or more times a week and one for teams that practice once a week or less.  As a paddler on a mid rec team, I felt that two races per day just was not enough.  More chances at hardware would be great.  It was disappointing for us that for two years in a row we did not get to compete in a championship race despite making some improvements from the prior year whereas entry level and competitive teams are pretty much guaranteed a race for the medals.  Tanking races just to get into a lower level is not an option for our team (and never will be).

That said, the festival was well run as always.  Kudos to all the volunteers that made the weekend a great success.  Weather was great for paddling.  The comradarie amongst fellow paddlers was evident throughout the whole weekend, the very thing that keeps me coming back every year.

[2010]

  How many years have you suffered Fisherguy? It's been 14 years for me and I have medalled twice at Alcan. I'm all for more medals but it's always a crapshoot as to which division you end up in anyway, unless you are FCRCC and then you are almost guaranteed to end up in Comp A. But increasing the number of medals dilutes the value of the competitiion. That's why I think a medal at Alcan is the most coveted around and has annually attracted so many visiting teams: it has the highest level of competition, and medals (which I thought looked awesome BTW) are really hard to come by because you have to good AND end up in the right division.

I do feel, however, that the higher divisions SHOULD have better chances competing in a championship race because they have invested the most in the sport. The fact that the same medals are awarded for all divisions is somewhat puzzling because the winners of Comp A put in water time almost 7 days a week + dry land training, whereas a Rec team put in 2 practices or less a week. My team competed was in the Comp B division at RTA and did not win anything and I must admit I felt some feelings of inequity and jealousy that Rec teams were sporting medals whereas my team which put in a lot more time had nothing to show for the weekend. BTW...4 races for the weekend is pretty good - I remember back in the day when if you didn't qualify for a final, you went home early on Sunday with only 3 total races.

I think you raise good questions as to whether a team races their utmost and ends up where they end up, or races strategically to place them in position to medal. A question I think that can only be answered in the deepest, darkest corners because it brings up the other question of sandbagging. Although the feeling of disappointment sucks, it fuels the fire to be better next year, or better yet at the next festival. I know how you feel because I'm sure all you want, like myself, is to have a CHANCE at winning something.

Good luck at future festivals, and good racing!

[Mike]

I'd like to see LARD's version of events as you overtook them.  

Coming soon...

I believe there were 2 dedicated cameras on shore and 4 head cams in the boat...

[fisherguy]

This was my 6th festival, 2nd with my current team.  I've never even had a chance to race in a championship final let alone win any medals.  I realize that there are many who have suffered way longer than I have so I don't feel too bad about it.  I just think its a bit disappointing to go all out and finish 3rd or 4th in your Sunday morning race only to be satisfied with a consolation race in the afternoon while teams that you know are competitive with you, are 8 seconds slower just to make to the C medal race.  Look at the gap between 4th and 5th in a few of the Sunday races and its enough to make you go hmm..).  I do agree with you that Comp teams do deserve the best chance to compete in championship races

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter or mad about it.  I had a lot of fun just being part of the whole weekend.  They added more specialty races to accomodate 49+ and 59+ and first timers but maybe they can add a couple more to accomodate paddlers like me who are stuck where they are.

[mandachan]

My Rec B team medaled, and so did my Comp A team. The look of the medal was the same, except for maybe the color. When I look at them and hold them, I feel different about both of them. On one hand I put in hours and hours of h2o/land training for myself. On the other hand I put in hours and hours of planning, managing, coaching. Both of these teams worked their butts off in their own way to get to where they were, neither one did more or less than the other.

Everything is relative - I finish a Comp A final and I am ready to black out. We continue panting for minutes after we cross the line. I tap my teammates around me and say good job. They do the same. My teammate beside me says "I was with you the whole time" and I say it back.
I'm on the drum for the Rec B final and we just finish 2nd. First Alcan ever. I look at my paddlers and they are soaking wet, too tired to move, muscles seizing, and confused as to what just happened. I say good job... and they nod in approval. Thanks, coach.

Both of those moments felt like Gold to me.

I don't care how long I wait for a medal, because medals are just happy fringe benefits of the real experiences of racing. Sure, I have a medal or two, but what I really take home is the fact that I raced with the most awesome people in the world and we just went through a whirlwind of pain together for the love of the sport.

[Nestah14]

Well said 'manda.

[paddlecwazy]

As all above have stated, the weekend of racing was great, well run, agreeable weather, good beer, and most important of all lot's of great people to paddle with & against.

It was great to see all the out of town teams come in compete hard and make the difference between a good festival of racing and a great festival of racing.

Well done to the organisers for moving Lightwave, one of the out of town teams, up into the Rec B division, even though their DNF on Saturday morning meant they were instantly relegated to Rec D/E.

As for medals, they looked awesome (from afar  ) but apart from the Comp A medalists the likelihood of winning one is pretty random, so I'm never overly concerned if I win one or not.  Its far more important to measure your teams success relative to the teams you consider your peers or teams that you've historically been chasing at other regattas.

Though I wouldn't say no to a medal for the best predictor of Alcan results

PS

The above comment, "the likelihood of winning one is pretty random" is not meant to detract from the efforts of the medalists in Comp B and below, it's just a reflection of the closeness of so many of the teams competing.  If the regatta were to be rerun again and again, the top 3 in Comp A probably wouldn't change, though the order might, however it's highly likely that the makeup of the rest of the teams in the A final and other finals would.  There's pretty much nothing separating SI Black and LARD Black with the 4th - 8th in the Comp A.  Likewise, there's only a second or two separating the 20 or so teams from the middle of Comp B to the bottom of Comp D.  This parity is what makes the racing at RTADBF so much fun and intense.  Getting the chance to race down the course with boats either side of you, pushing you, then crossing the line at seemingly the same time as all the boats in your semi and/or final is why I train and race. The experience and memories are worth way more than a medal.

[taeccool]

this was my first year dragon boating and my first ALCAN festival. it was an amazing experience. My team, KSA (placed 4th BC Hydro final) didnt have a full roster(both days) and what made it better was that the whole dragon boat community was kind enough to paddle for us, as I also returned the favor for both teams. Thanks to Dragon Zone Dragon Fire and Water Striders.  We wouldn't have been able to race any of our races without them. i very much enjoyed paddling with them.

[taeccool]

oh and i forgot to thank the few paddlers from Eric Hamber who helped us out at the final... mad love for the DB community..

[fisherguy]

I hear yah manda.  I was very proud at what our team accomplished.  We gave it everything we had in each of our 4 races.

Actually I was mistaken, I did race in a championship final once.  Way back in 1990 I was on a men's division team (sponsored by my Dad's company).  There weren't many teams back then so everyone made it to the finals.  It was funny how out classed we were competing with the likes of the Blazing paddles and Lotus.  The only team we managed to beat was Team Success (I wonder what happened to them?) The race started out at the Cambie Bridge (650 meters) and we were still racing in Teak boats.  The winning team got to compete in Hong Kong, paid for by Cathay I believe.  It was only for one year but the memories will last a lifetime.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off topic.