DBS regatta returns to Marina Bay for the 6th times from 1st to 4th June this year as one of the biggest bayfest. Our team participated in this race by sending a 12 mixed crew and 12 ladies crew for both Singapore Premier 500m & 200m race and also a 20 crew for 200m premier open.
The first day of weekend started with 500m race where our mixed 12 crew managed to secure a 4th placing ahead of SIT dragons and the Hong Kong institute of Architects in the first heat with a timing of 2:48s, but falling behind SPC (2:32s), Nanyang Polytechnic (2:40s) and Kiyah-Splashh (2:44s). This lead us to repecharge where we managed to improve 3s and came 3rd position against strong opponents from Argonaga dragonboat and Kiyah-splashh. Although qualified for semi-finals, the team was unable overcome rest of the teams like Nanyang Polytechnic, SIM, Singapore polytechnic and team GD.
On the other hand, the ladies 12 crew faced strong competitors in the first heat from NTU, Temasek Polytechnic, NUS and SIM and managed to beat only PALS with a timing of 3:03s. They managed to achieve 3rd position in the repecharge after fought hard and defeated PALS and Republic polytechnic but unable take on stronger opponents from SMU and Gaelic dragons.
On the second day of the weekend, our 12 crew mixed clocked 1:03s for 200m race in the first heat at the 5th position falling behind NUS (1:00s), Nanyang Polytechnic (1:01s), Temasek Polytechnic (1:03s) and Kraken (1:04s) and only won Japan dragons (1:08s). The crew met with the same fate in repecharge where the team were ranked behind stronger opponents from the Hong Kong institute of Architects, Temasek Polytechnic, Arnonaga dragonboat and Nanyang dragons.
The 12 ladies crew had a better headstart by beating TJ Seahawk, British dragons, Gaelic dragons and Spanish Armada and emerged as the 1st runner up with a close call and timing of 1:08s, falling behind Yarra River dragons (1:04s). This allowed the ladies to proceed directly to semi-final. Despite fighting hard, they were unable to replicate the prior success and positioned 5th behind Phillippine team dragonboat, SIM, Nanyang Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic but maintained the edge over TJ Seahawk.
Our 22 crew open mens team performed relatively well in the first heat, taking on opponents from Yarra River, Singtel and Gaelic dragons and secured 3rd position with timing of 00:52s, falling slightly behind Mountbatten (00:50s) and SAFRA (00:51s). Subsequently, the team fought hard in repecharge, beating Dragon riders, SIT dragons and Building department of Hong Kong to secure 2nd position, falling just slightly behind Austcham Paddler Club and qualified for semi-finals. Unfortunately, they couldn’t surpass their prior performance in the semi-finals and concluded with 6th placing behind the rest of the field, i.e. Phillippine Titans, Mountbatten CSC, NUS, British dragons and Penang Forward Sports Club.
Overall, DBS race showed mixed performance with some room for improvement and postmortem. The guys, however, are upbeat with their 20 crew results and vowed to train harder next time.
U Dragons 