Katong Convent and ACS(I) sweep dragon boat championships

Story by REDintern Yvonne Yap.

Marina Barrage, Friday, June 26, 2009 - CHIJ Katong Convent (Secondary)’s (KC) dragon boat teams made a clean sweep of the women’s B and C Divisions while Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) took home top honours in the men’s B and C Divisions at the 9th National Schools' Dragon Boat Championship 2009.

The various finals for the championships kicked off at 2pm at the Marina Barrage after the heats in the morning, with the C Division Men’s 10 Crew race being the first final. ACS(I) won this event by almost a boat length ahead of runners-up Hwa Chong Institution (HCI).

In the C Division Men’s 20 Crew race, it was a close fight between ACS(I), HCI and Bukit Panjang Government High (BPGH). The 3 teams were neck-and-neck all the way, matching each other with synchronised strokes.

In the last 100m, ACS(I) made their final charge and pulled away from the other two teams to clinch the gold. HCI and BPGH still gave it their all with HCI clinching the second spot by just a small margin.

For the B Division Men’s 10 Crew race, the ACS(I) teams made it a 1-2 finish with BPGH Team A coming in third.

Likewise, ACS(I) led from the start for the B Division Men’s 20 Crew race, winning by a boat length over second-placed BPGH. It was a close race for the third position between Yuan Ching Secondary School and Chung Cheng High School (Yishun), but it was Yuan Ching that made the podium.

When asked about their sweep of titles, along with the challenge trophies for B and C Divisions men’s events, ACS(I) Captain Barnabas Goh attributed their success to their tough training and their faith, which have synergistically helped them push themselves to do their best.

"We train five times a week since we joined Dragon Boat," he said as a testament to the fact that hard work pays off.

The ACS boys usually take breaks from trainings during major school examinations but they will still do self-training to maintain their levels of fitness.

In the women’s events, KC Team A took top spot in the C Division Women’s 10 Crew race, with Gan Eng Seng Secondary School came in second and KC Team B made it to the podium by coming in third.

KC won the C Division Women’s 20 Crew race as well as they finished about a boat’s length in front of second-placed Gan Eng Seng Secondary School and third-placed CHIJ Toa Payoh.

The final event for the secondary schools category was the B Division Women’s 10 Crew. All 6 teams involved were level up till the halfway mark before the stronger teams emerged.

Jurong Secondary School and Bedok Green Secondary School did not spare dragon boat queens KC the pressure throughout the race.

It was not until the final 100m that KC began to pull away from the pack and it was then apparent that KC was going to make a clean sweep.

The atmosphere at Marina was hyped up at that juncture as the school’s supporters cheered wildly as their team passed the checkered flags.

Bedok Green Secondary School came in second, while Jurong Secondary School Team A came in third.

“We feel proud and honoured,” said KC captain, Hui Ying, on their sweep of titles in the Women’s B and C Division categories.

The KC girls have been training twice a week on top of their canoeing training for six weeks prior to this competition.

Hui Ying added, “We could not have won this without teamwork, and the support of both Mr Juraimy, our teacher and coach, and Mrs Lingesh, our teacher-in-charge.”

One team that made an impression was the Gan Eng Seng Secondary School girls' team as they won the runners-up spot for the C Division Women’s 10 and 20 Crew. According to their teacher-in-charge, Mr Teo Peng Kee, this was the girls' team maiden medals since the team was established.

Another up and coming team to look out for is HCI, which took home the runners-up positions in the C Division Men’s 10 and 20 Crew. This was the first year HCI sent a team of dragon boaters to take part in a competition. Previously, the dragon boat boys were only involved in canoeing.

“Dragon boat requires more teamwork,” said HCI captain Keefe Lieow when asked to compare the difference between canoeing and dragon boat.

The Hwa Chong team had very little experience on the dragon boat, training only four times in the month before the championships as the other days were reserved for canoeing training.