The DC Dragons began in 1992 as the National Capital Area Women’s Paddling Association (NCAWPA). What started as a women’s dragon boat festival team has evolved to include men and mixed teams that complete in both dragonboating and outrigger canoeing. Our teams have competed both locally and internationally. In addition to competing, NCAWPA spearheads the development of dragonboating and outrigger canoeing both locally and along the East Coast. Many of our members have been coaches and/or part of the organization committees for the DC Dragon boat festival since its inception. As the first dragonboat team in the DC metro area, we strive to inspire others to join in a sport that promotes cooperative team effort, is physically challenging and fun. We paddle year-round and welcome new paddlers to join us or our sister teams, GoPink!DC and NCAWPA Youth.
This blog chronicles our journeys and achievements
First name: Norman Affectionately called: Normieee Official Position: DC Dragons' Commissioner to ERDBA Paddling Age: Two years or so. Paddling Goals: Lose 30 lbs before the next ERDBA Indoor Paddling Regatta. What He Likes Best About The Team: Having a good strong competitive team How Did He Get Into Paddling: My dad started it in my family, and I saw plenty of others doing it too. I joined the bandwagon. General words of wisdom for possible new paddlers: Do not underestimate the older folks that are still paddling. They will kick your butt. What People Are Saying About Norman He's just a kid.
Uriel - "What you get when you combine Miami with MIT"
First name: Uriel Official Position: Webmaster by Fiat, occasional Steersman, member of the list of last-second emergency substitute coaches, and Piston of the Engine Room. Paddling Age: 3.5 years, but it feels like much longer sometimes. Paddling Goals: To move the boat forward as quickly as possible (or, if steering, in a straight line). Also to get some much-needed exercise on the water: the only place in the Summer that is usually breezy and cool in all of DC. What He Likes Best About The Team: It's a great group of people, and that's the best reason to keep coming back. Have you ever stopped going to the gym and gotten e-mails from the treadmill and weights saying how much they miss you? That's because gym equipment isn't your teammate and friend. But the DC Dragons will be. Also they're alive. How Did He Get Into Paddling: My company had a festival team in the DC Race, and, much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. What Keeps Him Coming Back: The Dragons promised weekly BBQs. General words of wisdom for possible new paddlers: It's going to hurt. A lot. You'll wake up after your first race and wonder just how many gods you must have offended. But stick with it, and one day you'll realize that all the pain is gone, and that you've become awesome. What People Are Saying About Uriel Harvard said no so he went to MIT
Beginning today, I will be profiling one paddler from the DC Dragons every few days. My intend is to show you (the readers that), we are all just regular people with day jobs. I solicited responses from all these individual however some responses that were vulgar or lacking in "enthusiasm" were edited. Some responses had to be heavy edited or realistically recreated. My goal is to profile every paddler that raced with a DC Dragon team this season. Jimmy - "Prepare to have your name confused"
First Name: Jimmy Official Position: Head Coach Paddling Age : 8 years Paddling Goals : Move from the "team for kids who don't paddle good" to the "team for kids who paddle good". What He Likes Best About The Team: Watching team improve as the season progresses both as individuals and as a team Words of wisdom for new paddlers: Paddle good and I will leave you alone. What other say about Jimmy: If you are a female Asian, prepare to respond to the name Tina.
On a cloudy and breezy morning, DC Dragons gathered on the grassy banks of the Fingerlakes river in Ithaca. With all the top premier teams entered in this event and thunderstorms predicted during the day we were prepared for an eventful day.
Time Trials – Two 250m back-to-back
We all understood the importance of the 250ms: Aim - to get one of the top 6 fastest times (average) to qualify directly to the upper semi-finals and be in a position to grab those all important ERDBA points. We only had one chance to do this and we needed to nail it down, we were up against New Jersey and DCH III … As we lined up at the start, we knew that the course was narrow, so our starts needed to be strong; the sooner we were ahead of the other boats the better chance we would have of qualifying as one of the top teams. The start was called and we were off!!! Our start was average, both NJDBC and DCH III had started well and it was a fight to the finish line all throughout the length of the course. We were just edged out by DCH III as we crossed the finish line. The race itself didn’t feel good as we were rocky and had rushed during parts of the race such that our steerer, Ken was almost thrown off the boat!
Fortunately this meant we had room for improvement in the second time trial. Before we knew it, we were back in the start line racing the same teams. Somehow, we didn’t manage to nail our starts again leaving us in a similar situation to the first heat with all boats side-by side. The difference this time however was our power after the transition as we maintained a more consistent rate throughout. This enabled us to forge out a convincing lead on the other boats as we powered home winning the heat. Much better race and we had the fastest average time in our heat. Was this to be enough? Unfortunately not and we ended up being the 9th fastest crew of the day for the time trials. This meant we had a much tougher path if we still wanted to qualify for the upper semi-finals.
Heat one 500m’s
First heat of the 500ms was next and the task in hand was to win the heat in order to qualify for the upper semifinals. We were up against DCDB, Baltimore, and Gotham Thunder. Staying focused was crucial as we knew we need to get 1st place and that was the only thing in our minds… The start was good! Our boat and Baltimore blasted off the start line and had developed a big lead over the other boats. There was nothing separating us and Baltimore, it all came down to experience and who wanted it more! As we reached the final 50m it seems that Baltimore were slightly ahead of us. We could only trust in our training and provided a hard ‘bring it home’ to the lines. Even at the finish line it was difficult to know who had taken it. Some of the Baltimore crew had started celebrating. When the official results were published it turned out we had edged out Baltimore by one 10th of a second!!! Amazing result and what a fight!
The Rain Delay
Still on a high from our previous race’s win, the skies opened up and a downpour had begun. Thunder to be heard with sightings of lightning around the race sight, paddlers began to frantically tie down their tents and ran to their cars for cover. We waited anxiously to find out from the organizers whether the race was to be cancelled. This wait continued for almost two hours until rays of sun broke through the clouds and the organizers announced, to the delight of many, that the racing begins again!
Upper Semi-final 1
With the sun finally shining beautifully, the real racing begins. We found ourselves in with the big boys. Only 1st in the heat goes through to the ‘A’ grand finals. We were up against team MAD and Wall Street Dragons Black and Wall Street Dragons Gold. Certainly no slouches and all these teams were a lot faster than us during the time trials. With some modifications to the team line-up we knew we had a huge task in front of us but like true warriors we were prepared to battle with everything we have. Our strong start allowed us to remain in touch with every boat at the beginning and we battled on gamely throughout the race. However, the top teams proved they had too much quality as they etched a lead on us as we trailed in 3rd place. We did, however managed to achieve a fast enough time (9 second improvement from heats!) to go into the ‘B’ finals.
B Finals
Final race of the day and we were more motivated than ever to put in our best performance yet. We were up against DCH II and Wall Street Dragons for a second time. Our powerful starts proved to be our strongest weapon against the calibre of these top teams; after the 30 strokes of the start we were leading all boats. We went into our transition and reaches and continued to lead for the race. Wall Street Dragons was gaining on us slowly with every stroke, again and again we reached it out, power never dropped throughout but Wall Street kept biting at our tail and towards the last 100m line we were level… All we had left was our finish but Wall Street had a more powerful finish than us and managed to cross the line in front of us… We came in 2nd which meant 6th place overall. This proved to be a great result as we had beaten some very good teams. Great weekend of racing and the team left satisfied knowing we had put in a performance which we can be proud of.
From Near to Far: DC Dragons, NY Wall Street Dragons, DCH Racing II, Ithaca Gorges Dragons
8.30 am - Meeting at the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel over the sprawling city of Boston on a cloud filled Saturday morning. Underneath the brooding grey blanket of the sky, the city slumbered on waiting for a more reasonable day to present itself. Meanwhile, a select band of battle hardened Dragons roused themselves from the warmth of their beds, each donning the purple garment that distinguishes them from Earths lesser mortals, gathered their weapons to hand and set forth to conquer all those foolish enough to dare confront them.
By the time our first 500m time trial came, the sun had began to cast it's rays over the Charles river. Surely mother nature was on our side? Alas though, by the time we reached the docks to pick up our pfds and paddles we discovered the paddles were in 2 sizes only, at 45 or 52 inches. Either too short or too long for most...
First time trial, we were up against DBCB (Dragonboat club of Boston) who we managed to keep in touch with until the final stages where they blew us away. The team had struggled with the paddles and had given their all in the first time trial. Our leadened arms and legs made the easy paddle back to dock seem like an eternity and before we had a chance to catch our breathes, it was time for the second time trial! Most of the team hadn't anticipated this but like the warriors we are, we prepped up and got ready for battle. Second time trial, our tiredness and lack of conditioning took it's toll. Although we battled gamely we simply could not match the power of DBCB. Averaging out both time trials, DBCB was almost ten seconds ahead of us. It was a tough wake up call and the air of disapointment during the team huddle post race was apparent. However, the team aim to re-invent themselves and make up for the disappointment the following day. Surely, we are better than this? By the end of the day when the results came through, we discovered that DBCB was one of the fastest teams and we were the 5th fastest team of the day. Not too shabby after all!
Sunday
First heat we were up against MAD and Jade Dragons. We had to place within the top two to advance to the 'A' semifinals. MAD were the fastest team in the time trials so we knew it wouldn't be an easy race. Race itself - Improvement! The team showed much more determination and power, we shaved off 2 seconds from our fastest time the day before and came in 2nd. Enough to advance into the 'A' semifinals. Team morale was much higher now and we were ready for the semis.
Semifinal - The luck of the draw would pit us against MAD again and our conqueror the day before, DBCB. Only the winning team would advance to the 'A' final. Tall order but we were unfazed and totally pyshed up for it. Once on the boat, such was the focus of the team you'd be able to hear a needle drop. The race itself - Stunning! Amazing start, good transition, good stroke rating, power maintained throughout and gutsy bring it home. We stayed close with the other boats throughout the race but after the finish line we knew had came in only third. Not enough to get into the 'A' finals but still, it offered much encouragement. We had improved a further 4 seconds from our previous best time and are now within the reach of teams that were almost 10 seconds faster than us the previous day.
'A' Minor final - Determined to make the last race our best one yet the team prepped up at the side of the dock with massages on one another to the amusement of others (we ain't just normal paddlers!). Pumped up for one last hurrah, we were up against our arch rival this weekend, DBCB and Netfirm Riptides. The race itself was once again good and all teams were neck and neck until the finish line. All three teams finished within 2 seconds of each other. When the results came out we found out we came third, losing second place by less than 0.2 seconds. Heartbreaking stuff! Nonetheless, it was a satisfying weekend of racing, especially with how the team came together as a unit towards the end. 6th place overall isn't a bad performance, with lessons to take back to the drawing board. No doubt we'll come back stronger.
Reflection
Positives to take away is that when we were get it together, we can be very good....What we need to do now is to train as a team and take ourselves to the next level consistently. We can be just as good as the top teams but we have to put in the effort. Are we willing?
Over the course of the weekend there is much thanks to be said to everyone who made it possible. Thanks to the following paddlers who made the trip -
Uriel Klieger Jimmy Prunier Victoria Nguyen Sharon Hong Carol Herrera Sonali Ratnayake Dave Ngo Tina Chen Chia Tan Norman Huang Baldwin Tom Alvin Colasito Su Chuen Foo Cynthia Colasito JR Lequin Warren Fair Aristotle Ambion John Colasito Stephen Li
Special thanks to acts that I've seen over this weekend, sorry if I missed anything:
Uriel - for the great captaining the event. And for the tour guide in Boston! Jimmy - for the coaching leading to the event. Chia - for being stroke. Baldwin - for paddling in the final with a sprained ankle. Norman - for giving people rides to the airport at the end of the day. Incredible thanks to the Colasitos, JR and Warren for bringing the tent to the site and come end of the day when everyone was in a rush to catch their flights they had to trek a mile with that tent to take it back home even though they must have been tired - you guys rock!
It truly is the people that make our team special. People who are willing to give, help and take one for the team. I really don't think there's another team like us. Who are we? DC Dragons!!
B final - From Left to Right Netfirm Riptide, DBCB DrachenFurie ,DC Dragons
