Dragon Boat Racing
Sarah and I spent the weekend up at Lake Minnewanka for the Banff National Park Dragon Boat Festival. Our team, representing The Banff Centre, managed an unexpected first place finish in the division C mixed category, completing 500m in 2 minutes and 26 seconds. Not bad for a rookie team of 22 members (including two pregnant women) that only practiced once the week before.
Things started rough on the Saturday, with our boat cutting off another boat at full speed and nearly tipping, but we moved up steadily through the ranks and by the end of Saturday were the 6th fastest of 25 teams. After the semi-finals Sunday morning we were third fastest of the 15 teams in our division and in the finals we came in first place. Medals and champagne were distributed, and we celebrated afterward at the St. James Gate.
I have to admit that although I’m not a very competitive guy when it comes to sports, our steady success, and the cohesion that made our team run like a well oiled machine made the whole weekend a very appealing experience. I can’t wait to try again next year.