Summer Sea Sports: First Leg Regatta

“Are you ready???? Attention!!!!! Rooooow!!!”

After running 15km in The Green Miles (see previous blog), Josiah, Kuya Dane and I headed to Manila Bay to witness (and to participate) the first leg of the Philippine Dragonboat Federation.

“Ready for 30 powerlongs???? NOOOOOOW!!!!”

Community-based and school-based teams competed for the 300m race course. The participating teams were UP Dragonboat Team, DLSU Rowing Team, PNP Rowing Team, Rowers Club of the Philippines, Philippine Dragon Rowing Team, Philippine Youth Rowing Team, Triton, Aqua Fortis, Manila Dragons, Sea Dragons, Manila Ocean Park and Drago Pilipinas. And boy, it was a good sunny day!

The 300m race course was the shortest race course I had joined for rowing. In less than 2 minutes, the teams paddle their way to reach the finish line. This race was oozing with testosterone and estrogen. In a short breath, you are already at the end of the race. One wrong paddle or a splash of the wave in you boat could mean a great deal in the race. Because of that, “loading” all the way is our motto for the day.

“Lastkick na yaaaaan!!!!”

We qualified for the semi-finals. But, we were 1.04 second short for the finals. It was a good race for the women’s team. Our distance was a quarter-boat away from the PNP Women’s Team and a second away from PDRT, considering those two teams were known for winning the previous international and local rowing competitions. Congratulations to the PNP Women’s Team for winning the Women’s Leg in the First Leg and PDRT for winning the Mixed and Men’s Category.

We did not win but in our hearts, we know we did our best. We performed what we had trained for. We party hard, but we party harder. Paddling is our full time job already. And UP is getting stronger. I can feel it. We can definitely feel it. So for the other teams, beware! It will be the return of the comeback. But for now, I need to sleep. We must recover from a long day of test of endurance and speed. See you next week in Manila Ocean Park Race!

“Easy..”

Here are the pictures that we took on the regatta. Enjoy! 🙂

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