|
|
|
|
Thanks to everyone for being part of what's been a pretty spectacular season so far. 2014 has seen Rage grow from strength to strength, both in numbers and results.
There was much anticipation in the lead up to London BDA. We entered this event with 106 points to our name, second (nation-wide) only to Amathus, who were on 111 points on the Premier league table – no small feat for a team that is currently comprised of so many dragon boat rookies.
|
|
|
|
All Ragers have been an important part of this year's journey. Thanks to a great combination of valuable experience and keen new blood, we are where we are now. We knew we'd have to fight hard in London to defend the points and position we have worked so hard to earn.
Other clubs (as expected), heavily stacked their teams with paddlers who were not their own. Though they officially clocked faster times than Rage at our home ground event, we are proud to say that win or lose, we achieved our results honourably, through an all-Rage effort.
The coaches value our members, and prioritise doing the right thing by everyone above any trophies any dragon boating association can offer. We'd like to thank all Ragers for competing with integrity and passion, and for representing our club well. You did us proud, both on the Colenorton Rage and all-Rage boats.
|
|
|
Amit, Ruth and Sharyl in particular expressed their excitement about the prospect of making new friends with another team and couldn't wait to paddle at this event.
Due to an unexpected allergic reaction, Sharyl was unfortunately unable to join us. However, she was certainly there in spirit – and said she wished there was a live broadcast of the event so she could cheer us on from home! Ruth (her partner in crime) resorted to the next best thing instead, and gave Sharyl regular updates via text throughout the day.
Veteran Rager Stu returned as an engine room paddler aboard the Colenorton Rage boat, and Darren made it to the races also, despite having only landed back in the country the day before from the U.S. Redmunds' mate Steve also returned to paddling for the first time in a while, having previously raced for a corporate team some years ago.
|
|
Meanwhile, Amit received his Rage shirt, which he proudly christened at London BDA. He also had the honour of taking the 200m scratch crew 1st place trophy home – his wife was reportedly very excited to see it :)
The Ragers aboard the Colenorton boat raced hard and had fun. Making new friends is what dragon boating is all about. You did just that, and thank you for representing Rage the way you all did. What a fantastic result we achieved on both the combined and all-Rage boats.
|
|
|
|
For Rage's help and new-found friendship, Colenorton is very grateful, and they would like to organise a dinner with our Colenorton Rage representatives soon :)
|
|
200m
With Ken and Vic Senior setting the rate in the 200m sprints, we were in for an exciting pace. At the end of one of the heats, Kev panted, "thanks for killing us, Ken..." :D
We were up against Thames in the first heat, and won with a time of 51:30, taking us straight through to semis. We made it through to the major finals, along with Tao, Worcester and Typhoon. We beat Worcester (a very strong team) again for the third time in a row, and came 3rd overall with a time of 51:77, not far behind Tao and Typhoon.
500m
We were up for some Marfiak magic in the 500m races as Rich stroked with Vic Junior. As usual, they led us with some strong starts followed by controlled steady power pieces.
|
|
Good seeding from the 200m races placed us in a very comfortable heat, where we won by 7 seconds in a time of 2:20.17.
We started strong in the semis, but unfortunately Typhoon pulled back at us. We finished 7 seconds faster than our first heat time and got straight through to the major finals as fastest runner up, in a time of 2:13.31.
Faced with strong competition in the finals, we gave it everything alongside Tao, Typhoon and Worcester. We ended up in 4th place overall alongside these strong teams (at least one of which didn't even race with its own club members). We should be extremely proud as we improved on our previous time by 2 seconds – and finished up in a respectable time of 2:11.40, as an all-Rage crew.
|
|
|
100m
The team was exhausted from giving it all in the day's preceding events, but Rage dug deep, winning our heat by a comfortable margin, taking us straight through to the finals – where we came 4th overall.
Making Rage history
The team raced hard and fast all day – and we made it into the 100m, 200m and 500m major finals. Three major finals in a day is a first (and a landmark), in Rage history.
|
|
Aimee, Candy, Nan, Row, Ruth and Jen represented Rage on the combined LRC Ladies boat. The result: first place in the ladies' division at the London BDA.
Rage achieved great results across all categories and distances entered at the London BDA, and earned trophies as Colenorton Rage, All-Rage and LRC Ladies. The coaches would like to thank everyone for your co-operation, support and tremendous efforts.
|
|
|
|
Some of the highlights of the day (apparently) included getting smacked in the head by a paddle (yes, Ruth even found that fun!) and the entire team throwing cups of water at Buzz and Vic for their charity-inspired ice bucket challenge.
Following this, the rest of the team jumped into the Thames as an alternative to the same challenge (the water was cold enough!), as Justin had also nominated the entire team. Well...some of us jumped – the rest ended up in there involuntarily...how many times did Connie get pushed in? ;)
Ruth was so tired after a day's racing she struggled to get out of the water – but fear not...Ken Chow to the rescue...!! While Kitty also heroically rescued (tah-dah!!)....Connie's flip-flop :)
As this chaos unfolded, all the team could hear was Buzz shouting at us in the background: "Raaaage!!! Dinner is at 7pm!" Yes, Dad.... :D
Thanks to Buzz and Redmunds for organising the London BDA event for our team and for booking us in for a buffet! :D
Below is a picture of Candy's dessert degustation platter...she asked us to help her finish it...a minute later we turned around to assist, and it was all gone!! Candy....!!! ;)
|
|
|
There are so many people to thank – please forgive the coaches if we've missed anyone by name. But we'd basically like to thank every single Rager who turned up to race – and all those who have helped build Rage as a club by being a part of it this season.
To Regina (+ bubba Amelia) and Florian for being there as our support crew – you guys have been amazing this season. Florian has been a great supporter this year. Regina paddled with us until she was 7 months pregnant, and even then, she finally stopped – but only reluctantly!
|
|
|
Special thanks to Stephen Li for arranging his flights around the London BDA event – he went home straight after to finish packing, and make his way to the airport. And thanks to our ever faithful awesome foursome Will Man, Nan, Candy and Aaron for driving to London to paddle with the team at this crucial home ground event.
What a great weekend...only Nationals to go. One team, one dream.
Rage as one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
