The Fighting Carps, JETAA Toronto’s very own Dragon Boat team raced in it’s first regatta of the season on August 16th. In fact it was the first ever Sunnyside Dragon Boat Festival held at Sunnyside Beach on Toronto’s West End. Given this fact, the event itself was a little disorganized, but overall it was a fun day at the beach, if not a little too hot!
It was a long day for the Carps, starting the day off with some points and tips in a morning practice with Coach Chris. Then before lunch there was a motivational speech given by Olympian Athlete Cheryl Pounder. At first there was a feeling of reluctance to listen, as the team was ready to dive into the potluck lunch. But Cheryl turned out to be quite a good public speaker, drawing her audience in with her life stories and leaving the listener feeling pumped to be competing in a team sport.
After lunch is when the real action started, and the Fighting Carps raced in two sprints. The first was 250 meters. Due to high waves the second race was chopped to about 150 meters. The Fighting Carps did our best and placed as Runner’s Up. This is something the whole team can attest to as incorrect, as we were sure that we were ahead of the other team. However in name of good sportsmanship we will take our Runner’s Up ribbons and work harder to achieve some medals for the upcoming GWN Race in September.
(Photos care of Sunnyside Paddling Club)