After we threw down a dismal 2:36 in our first race some dude actually went out of his way right before the 2nd race to come up to us and say, "Hey Banana Boat what happened? Did you guys throw that first heat or something? I thought you guys are supposed to be good..."
Are you serious right now? Yeah, we did well last year but our team is also about 70% new paddlers for 2011 and you're kinda pushing that all Asians look alike thing a little far. I hate to make excuses but that was also the first time we ever did a 500m piece this year and we didn't even have a finish, so cut us some slack. You don't know us *snaps fingers & shakes head side to side*.
We also got lots of comments about our new uniforms. Ok fine, a lot of it was actually just from me but our uniforms are pretty gangster this year, just have a look.
That doesn't mean you have to come to our camp as we're relaxing and try to talk to us about how unique, colorful and different they are. Actually, looking back now I
The team also learned a few costly lessons on Saturday too. As far as team sports go, that whole thing about being as strong as your weakest member is a pretty reasonable motto when it comes to dragonboating. With 22 people on a boat trying to work as 1, a single misstep will cascade and throw everyone off.
But it was a good experience before throwing the noobs into the fire. With a lot of first timers it was probably first race jitters and not knowing what to expect, but now that they do have it under their belt it's time to step it up. Hamilton is in 3 weeks and we actually do have a real reputation to defend there. We can't lose, we won't lose...
Sure, we are a recreational team but that doesn't mean you shouldn't aim to win. Losing sucks, especially when you pay to play and are putting the time and effort into it - so don't let your teammates down. Hell, there are teams who practice 3 times a week and they consider themselves recreational too.
One thing we learned
Check it out, this is how close it was. The orange buoy is the finish line. Within the last 10 meters or so, looks like we got caught up in the moment, heads turned and we lost. Story of my life...
Also, show up to practice. With only an hour on the water each week every practice counts. That's the truth, so show up and don't let your team down.
So bottom line is we got our work cut out for us, but in all fairness with only a few practices under our belt it could have been worse. Not to say that we did particularly well, but I was
Here was the final race.
It actually wasn't that bad though because the weather held up, the venue was pretty nice and we had a lot of fun. We even went to Niagara Falls after.
Well I guess that's it for my disgruntled Monday, drinking crappy coffee, looking too much into things and ranting about it post, so have a nice day.
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