Olympia Race at St. Martin University on 4/26/2014
Fire Dragons Race Summary:
What an amazing first race for the Seattle Flying FIRE Dragons! After the first two races, we were seeded 5th and had to win our semi-final race, which included HOT SAKE who was seeded 4th, to make it to the finals. It was a close race throughout, made closer by their boat moving toward ours. Thankfully, our expert tiller, Chris, kept us straight and true, and thanks to our hard work over the past several months, it appeared that we took them in the final 100 meters. It was only when we passed the official at the finish line and heard him announce, "Seattle Flying FIRE Dragons, you're in the finals!" that we knew for sure. In the final race, we were against the top three seeds. We finished fourth, but it was a close race, with all four boats finishing within a boat-length. With a team consisting of four new paddlers and an overall paddling experience average under 2 years, this was a very impressive performance. We not only came in 4th out of 42 teams overall and out of 16 teams in the competitive division, we were the second fastest Washington team at the race, beating all other local teams except for Tacoma.
-Coach Greg
Smoke Dragons Race Summary:
Our recreational team had an incredible day on the water on Saturday. Several paddlers were able to experience their first day of racing - and in our first heat we took first place against the other 3 teams. Everyone stayed focused on good timing with the paddlers in front of them. In our second race we improved our time by a full 3 seconds, placing 3rd in the heat. For our final race we came in 2nd - we needed the fastest second place time out of 3 heats in order to make it to the Finals and our time was the second fastest time. The outcome means we placed around 5th or 6th in the recreational division - - a very respectable showing for our team. More important is the fact that we had a great time and we improved aspects of our racing for each heat. It was an honor to coach and paddle with this team. A special thank-you goes out to Carol (our drummer) and Wei (our steersperson) for doing double-duty with paddling on the competitive team as well as helping our rec team. I hope everyone is looking at their schedules and signing up for our upcoming races this summer - our race schedule is on our website at seattleflyingdragons.org.
-Coach Valerie
A great day, the rain held off until the event was over. Thanks for 41 SFDBC participants - we now number 56 members, more than 70% participation, this must be a record for our club!
What an amazing first race for the Seattle Flying FIRE Dragons! After the first two races, we were seeded 5th and had to win our semi-final race, which included HOT SAKE who was seeded 4th, to make it to the finals. It was a close race throughout, made closer by their boat moving toward ours. Thankfully, our expert tiller, Chris, kept us straight and true, and thanks to our hard work over the past several months, it appeared that we took them in the final 100 meters. It was only when we passed the official at the finish line and heard him announce, "Seattle Flying FIRE Dragons, you're in the finals!" that we knew for sure. In the final race, we were against the top three seeds. We finished fourth, but it was a close race, with all four boats finishing within a boat-length. With a team consisting of four new paddlers and an overall paddling experience average under 2 years, this was a very impressive performance. We not only came in 4th out of 42 teams overall and out of 16 teams in the competitive division, we were the second fastest Washington team at the race, beating all other local teams except for Tacoma.
-Coach Greg
Smoke Dragons Race Summary:
Our recreational team had an incredible day on the water on Saturday. Several paddlers were able to experience their first day of racing - and in our first heat we took first place against the other 3 teams. Everyone stayed focused on good timing with the paddlers in front of them. In our second race we improved our time by a full 3 seconds, placing 3rd in the heat. For our final race we came in 2nd - we needed the fastest second place time out of 3 heats in order to make it to the Finals and our time was the second fastest time. The outcome means we placed around 5th or 6th in the recreational division - - a very respectable showing for our team. More important is the fact that we had a great time and we improved aspects of our racing for each heat. It was an honor to coach and paddle with this team. A special thank-you goes out to Carol (our drummer) and Wei (our steersperson) for doing double-duty with paddling on the competitive team as well as helping our rec team. I hope everyone is looking at their schedules and signing up for our upcoming races this summer - our race schedule is on our website at seattleflyingdragons.org.
-Coach Valerie
A great day, the rain held off until the event was over. Thanks for 41 SFDBC participants - we now number 56 members, more than 70% participation, this must be a record for our club!
