Swinging by Dunkin’ Donuts and Brookline to pick up Phu, we still made it on time and were able to find parking on the street that runs by the Harvard football stadium (aka Coliseum) on the Allston side. This put us in short walking distance of the Boston side of the Weeks Footbridge, where all the Dragon Boat teams were setting up tent. On the opposite side of the river – starting at the intersection of DeWolfe and Cowperwaithe and running along a stretch of Memorial Drive – the Dragon Boat festival would start at Noon, featuring Asian food booths and dance demonstrations. This ended up working out well, because it gave us a great place to wander through while waiting for our races to start.
As for the races themselves, they ran like clockwork starting at 8:30 a.m. I must say that I was very impressed by how well the Boston Dragon Boat Festival organizers ran race day. They had all teams ready and lined up around 20 minutes before start times, kept track of which life vests and which paddles from boats coming off the water would be handed to teams heading into the water and kept the races moving on schedule. This was all in addition to keep tracking of who was winning the races and scheduling teams into the semi-final and final races.
My team came in second place in our first race, which was actually a morale booster. It was really close in the end, and we would’ve ended up in third if our drummer hadn’t goaded us into paddling faster. Our team finally felt like things were beginning to click into place and we could feel real momentum with the boat as we used our new start strategy and focused intently on paddling in sync. And, it was a rush to be competing on the river while having bystanders watch us from the shore and on the bridge we raced under. It also didn’t hurt to have Andrew and my teammates’ friends and family cheering us on.
With three hours to kill before our next race, most of the team took advantage of the warm weather to veg out on the grass by our tent. As you’ll see in my next post, I ended up wandering around Harvard Square before returning to the company tent to sun my blindingly-white legs. Rest assured, I was applying copious amounts of sunscreen to my face and legs due to the fact that I had gotten slightly burned the day before during the time trials. My arms were safely covered by team’s long sleeved shirts.
With a lunchtime race, the team decided it would be better to race on empty stomachs and we headed to the docks for our second race. Another thing that was different about the races compared to our time trials was that all teams needed to paddle out to the start line (I believe it was described as 500 meters). The finish line was located right next to the docks, which allowed everyone on shore to witness some exciting finishes.
Andrew, Amy, Jen and Pete found a nice shady spot along the river to watch our second race and it was a nice boost of energy to hear them cheering for us as we paddled by on our way to the bridge. For some reason, this race had us competing against just one other team. We gave it all and despite a close finish, we ended up winning!
Victorious, we returned to the tent to find three different types of boxed Chinese food waiting for us. Andrew had the beef and broccoli and I went with some sort of chicken and veggie dish in a clear sauce, both accompanied with tons of white rice which is the perfect meal in my book!
I also tried a traditional Chinese treat, I forget what it’s called but this is what it looks like on the outside:
On the inside, there was sticky rice, pork and beans.
It sounds like the type of combo that I would like but I ended up passing most of it to Phu, who told me it reminded him of the times his grandmother would make it for him.
Fortified with food, we lounged lazily in the sun for another couple of hours before the final race. I have a feeling it was these last couple of hours that really did the team in, as we were all feeling tired and sluggish from the heat and from waiting around.
Going into the final race, we were up against the same team we had beat in the second race and a new team. We had a little bit of a wait on the water, when we paddled out and found that the boats in the race before us were dawdling and hadn’t left yet. Once we lined up, my team and the team to our left were told that we were too far out to the left side of the river and needed to move towards the right lane. So organizing us took a few more minutes.
Once the race started, I was totally in paddle mode. I don’t even look up at my surroundings or the other boats, I tend to focus just on the front paddler to ensure I’m in rhythm with her. This race ended up being a fairly even match between all three teams but I didn’t realize until the end that there was a little controversy involved. There was clearly no chance we were going to win, but the winning team to our left ended up veering into our lane at the end, which caused us to change our trajectory and veer into the lane to our right. We ended up third, but as I mentioned, all three times were within seconds of each other. The majority of my team was very frustrated with the result but to be honest, I was relieved. This meant that we were done with racing and my tired butt was ready to grab some fro-yo and go home. Just an FYI, our team captain did try to protest the race results but we were told that we protested too late, you’re supposed to do it while you’re on the boat and in the water still. Again, to be fair, Andrew said it was clear that there was no way we would’ve won the race so I’m sure the best team won.
Overall, I can’t tell you what a positive experience Dragon Boat racing was. I had a great time getting to know coworkers I hadn’t met before, and it was great to be surrounded with positive, enthusiastic people. Dragon Boating itself didn’t require any previous boating experience and wasn’t too strenuous. Plus, it had a very reasonable time commitment, three evening practices for an hour and a weekend for the time trials and races. The Dragon Boat Festival itself was a lot of fun and a perfect family event. And, I couldn’t have it done it without the support of Andrew, who woke up early both days with me and hung around all day – which at times was very hot and very boring.
1 comment:
I hope you do this again next year - it was so much fun to watch the races and cheer you on! Of course, I do plan to actually use sunscreen and sample some of the food next time.
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