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Raging Dragons Dragon Boat Club
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Raging Dragons

Northbound to Notts

Ragers at Liverpool BDA

Nottingham BDA

Along with a few Thames paddlers, we loaded our boats on to the trailer in preparation for our second event of the season. Tents, flags, drums, paddles, bags and random parts of dragon anatomy made their way into different cars. Our green dragon head stared at Redmunds from his back seat all the way to Nottingham as it accompanied him on the extended northbound drive.

Race day: 200m and 2km pursuit

Rage tent
Our first heat was a 200m sprint (the longest 200m ever...!!) :D, as helms Pete and Paul kept pushing their respective crews and were both reluctant to call "stop" before the other boat did...Rage dug deep as we battled it out against our fellow London crew – and finally won.
Rage at Notts
Overall, we saw a huge improvement since our performance in Liverpool two weeks earlier. We clocked some respectable 200m times (48.72 in our first heat against Thames, 49.51 in our semis against Kingston and Worcester, and 50.47 in the plate major final against Notts and Secklow).  

Rage completed the 2km challenge in a time of 14.38.32 (within two seconds of both Secklow and Notts Anaconda). The team responded well to Pete's calls and pulled off four great turns around two sets of bridges. Our power was a lot more consistent than our previous Liverpool performance. 
As Travers rightly pointed out, this improvement coincided with the completion of 12 consecutive weeks of Nimbo's circuit sessions...not much of a coincidence really. If we all keep working hard both on and off the water, it will pay dividends on race day.

Ladies league

Ladies league – first place
Candy, Katha, Row, Jay, Jo Tang and Jen joined forces with Thames and Typhoon to form Team LRC against some strong competition in the form of Worcester and Notts Anaconda ladies. We were psyching ourselves up by dragon roaring at the start line, before Candy poshly reminded us to roar in a ladylike manner... :D

The three London clubs gritted our teeth and worked as one, charged for the line – and claimed first place not only at Nottingham, but also on the 2015 BDA ladies league table. Way to go, girls!!

Random Rage antics

Candy and Rage
Rage bundle
Redmunds famously almost killed us all last year in the 200m Nottingham relay event. The race began with us lined up almost perpendicular to where we were meant to be facing. Before we knew it, the officials gave us the command: "GO!!" We took off at great speed, with Redmunds hurtling us straight towards race control. In an epic display, he finally managed a hard turn back into our race lane (almost into Powerhouse), yelling "SOOOOH-RRRRYY!!!!" all the way...never a dull moment with this guy... ;) 

This year, Justin helmed us for our first fun relay, while Pete wobbled around on the drummer seat :D Justin seemed fairly confident with his recently acquired helming skills, while Pete hung on for dear life...in the end, Rage were just pleased to finish our race with both a helm and drummer still on board :D Well done to both of you :)
Pete drumming
Justin helming
Fun race number 2 followed – Redmunds (and the team) braved the prospect of him helming again...we all checked that our life insurance policies were still valid before boarding. At the end of the race, John Ling kept gasping and cussing...apparently the race start went something like this: "Crews! Down and ready...attention..." followed by a fart in John's eye. Justin: "well, at least they called it quickly and you just went past it...." Of course, this would only happen on a Rage boat...Fernando: "maybe eez make us go faster..." :D

Thankfully this time, no crashes into any race control towers, power boats, fellow competitors or river banks....success!! And redemption....well done, Reds!! Rage lives to race another day... :)
Post-punch
Thanks to Sue, Milli, Diana and Mattis for being our support crew on the day – though I'm not sure Sue enjoyed the bit where Vic accidentally punched her in the head...Pete didn't look too impressed either...

Must've been some thwack...look at Sue's face!! Oops... :D

Please come back, Sue – we're a friendly lot, really...

Paddler of the month

Paddler of the month: Jessica Lee
Despite being a relative newcomer to the club, Jess's paddling has improved significantly during her short time on the boat. Always there with a smile, Jess responds to any paddling tips or advice with a positive attitude. She's done her best to make our newbies feel welcome and is already setting a good example for them with her stroke.

Since joining us earlier this year, Jess has already volunteered herself to paddle for hours in support of Captain Marfiak's helming course day, joined Sharyl on our social committee, taken the initiative to do a mass order of stylish seat pads and helped raise awareness of Rage's new fundraising tool. Love your work, Jess! Keep it up :)

Welcome to our new club treasurer

Treasurers Kitty and Jo Tang
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to our newest committee member and club treasurer, Jo Tang. 

Kitty will soon be preoccupied with a certain little Chow Junior :) ...and will be doing a gradual hand over of the treasury role to Jo, who, since joining the club in January, has been an endearing team member exuding a positive energy and a helpful can-do attitude. 

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Kitty for all her hard work over the years at Rage. It's a lot of what happens behind the scenes that has kept the club running the way it has. Although she is handing over her official committee position, Kitty has always been a true Rager at heart – and we hope to see just as much of her and Ken as we do now in the future...just with a mini +1 in tow :)

Rage May social and birthday celebrations

The team enjoyed birthday cake in Nottingham, courtesy of Kitty and Row. As much as we were looking forward to Vic and Kev's traditional double dunking, it was a little cold there this year...so we'll save it for later instead :) Dave Taylor was unable to make this event, so it was a lucky escape for him too (but not for long!)

Jenny Nim also baked a 'healthy birthday cake' which was enjoyed after Tuesday night circuits.
Birthday kiss
Healthy birthday cake at Nimbo's circuits
Birthday celebrations continued at Yi Ban over dim sim lunch after training on the 24th May, while Regina also celebrated her birthday in style, enjoying a Chinese banquet in Brisbane, Australia.

Hello and welcome, little Ellie

Congratulations to Connie and Kev on the arrival of Ellie Truong (she's a cutie – obviously takes after Mum) ;)

Our newest addition to the Rage family was born on 22nd April, weighing in at 6 pounds – and apparently has quite a set of lungs on her already! Congrats also to Will, now a loving uncle to a beautiful niece.

Kitty and Ken's bubba next – Ellie 'Mega Truong' eagerly awaits the arrival of fellow baby Rager playmate 'Optimus Chow' :)
www.ragingdragons.co.uk

Editor: Jen Szeto