NTU clinch Prime Minister’s Cup double on final day of Singapore Dragon Boat Festival

Story by REDintern Yvonne Yap.

Marina Barrage, Sunday, June 28, 2009 - The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) walked away the biggest winners at the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival, winning four out of the six grand finals they qualified for, including the Prime Minister's Cup for both the men’s and women’s categories.

The afternoon began with the Tertiary (Women) 10 Crew Grand Finals. The teams were the top 3 finishers from each of the two heats the day before.

The Singapore Management University (SMU), Republic Polytechnic (RP) and NTU led the pack initially but the National University of Singapore (NUS) team managed to make up some ground quickly, going neck to neck with SMU and leaving the other teams in their wake. SMU then edged out NUS to clinch the first grand final of the day with a time of 4.57.84.

In the Tertiary (Mixed) 20 Crew Grand Finals, NTU won with a time of 3.39.92 while it was a matter of milliseconds which separated the first and second runners-up. RP was in second place with a time of 3.43.03, edging out Singapore Institute of Management (3:43.68) by a slight margin.

NTU also triumphed in the Tertiary (Men) 20 Crew Grand Finals, one event with a considerably high level of competition. All teams were still in the running for the title even after the halfway mark. However, in the final 100m, NTU made a final charge and pulled away from the pack, winning by half a second (3.36.87) over Singapore Management University (3:37.31).

Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association led from start to finish and clinched the National Championship (Men) 20 crew, arguably the most competitive event in the whole festival. SAFSA clocked the fastest time in the semi-finals and worked well despite being under pressure from Mountbatten CSC, finishing half a boat's length ahead.

Mountbatten CSC did well in the National Championship (Mixed) 20 by securing the top spot in that event, avenging their loss in the previous event.

RP went into the Grand Final of the National Championship (Women) 10 Crew with the fastest timings from the heats and semi-finals. They took an early lead in the race, until the girls from Anglo-Chinese Junior College caught up with them and overtook them after the halfway mark. In the final charge, both sides increased their stroke rate, but ACJC (4.59.25) still managed to outpace RP (4.59.83) to clinch a surprise win.

"This is the first gold we have achieved in a major competition, we feel very happy," said ACJC Captain Tan Jia Yin. The team attributed their success to their coaches Shaun Ho and Amanda Nio, teacher-in-charge Miss Zhu Baojin (their drummer as well), and their steersman Ho Hui Tong.

NTU managed to wrestle the PM Cup (Women) from defending champions NUS in the penultimate race of the day. The PM Cup was a 1000m race, 200m more than the usual distance. NUS led for the first 300m but NTU soon caught up and never looked back, winning the PM Cup with 4:45.42, less than a millisecond ahead of NUS (4:45.72).

When asked if they had a strategy for doing so well, the NTU Women’s team captain said, "Since our team doesn't have enough people to make up multiple teams, we sent the same people for most of the events."

Fighting against fatigue after competing for 2 days in a row and to emerge champions after 1000m is no mean feat for these girls.

The men from NTU successfully defended their PM Cup (Men) when they took the lead halfway in the race, increasing their stroke rate at the same time. They pulled away from NUS in the final quarter, leaving almost a boat length between them. SMU and SIM then capitalised on NUS' fatigue and surged ahead to achieve second and third place respectively, leaving NUS with fourth place.