Yes - the day has finally come. After a week of killing stomach butterflies, Papillon (oh, the irony!!*) gathered at Bedok Reservoir this Saturday for CCG dragonboat.
* Irony because, if you recall, 'papillon' = 'butterfly' in french.
We were in good time to catch our guy teams in action during their semi-finals, doing well to secure 3 of out 6 slots in the Final and eventually emerging proud winners of the Silver and Bronze medals. Congrats all around!
With the Men's category done and dusted, it was now Show Time! for the Mixed cat. The opening ceremony was made more lively by some Rather Boisterous Spirits amongst the teams, and it was with good cheer we dispersed to get ready for our events.
Papillons warmed up for the heats (haha), listening intently as Coach Patrick quickly schooled us in the art of 'Drifting to Victory'. We were duly confused; but Ah Ben, with his extreme intelligence, condensed all that into a simple: 'Ah Beng Ah Seng Start' - in other words, no room for gentlemanliness. Ah... understooded.
Time's up - off we went - Initial-P* drifting smoothly down Lane 1 in Heat 1. When the command was given to 'GO!', we burst off to a good start with our gears nicely engaged. After the 30 strokes, we maintained a strong rhythm before launching into a short charge towards the last 50m. Video replays captured a phenomenal surge that pulled us clear ahead of the other boats. What a finish! - 1 min 18 sec - NICE.
* P for Papillon la.
Next up - Semi-finals. It was to be... a heartstopping race. Having been very prim and proper all our years in EM, Papillons were not used to the 'Ah Ben Ah Seng' start and were flummoxed by the not holding water during 'Hold water', paddling during 'Are you ready', etc. When we finally shot off, we were not able to gain the edge like in our heats. It was a nail-biting race to the end, but we managed to edge out Citibank by a whisker, to book a slot in the Final.
A serious debrief awaited us - which we solemnly absorbed and resolved to do a Perfect Start in the Final. By this time, limbs were limp and lactic acid was oozing from our pores. But we steeled ourselves for what was to come.
The start of the Final was a noisy affair. Loudhailers blared away with new rules and warnings and blah blah... but Papillon was focused. Focused on Patrick's calls.
This time, it was Perfect.
We got off on a good start and rowed hard. A charge was called in the middle, and we squeezed out 10 hard strokes to try and pull ahead. (What seemed like) mili-seconds later, came the final charge. The feeling was incredible - it's like your head, lungs, arms and muscles were gonna burst. Crossed the finishing line, we finally looked up and around. It must have been very close, because there was an uncharacteristically subdued moment - much like when a striker that looked offside scores a goal and everyone is wondering if it would stand.
Credit to OCBC (haha!), they were the faster team and deserved the Gold.
But let me say, my Papillons - You can hold your heads high, with your valiant effort that has brought us one better than last year's bronze. I know each and everyone of you 'hocked' out everything you had, so there is no shame in that - be proud of yourselves!
CCG now over - let's look ahead to the J.I. race. There is still room for improvement - and that is in pulling our efforts together when charging. Remember I said that we all threw in everything we had? - Yes we did, but if we can time our gut-bursting strokes together even better... oh, what terror we would cause!
So Paps! Let's all work on that during next training. Build the habit of listening for and echoing out the charge calls - so that during the mayhem of actual races, we are alert and ready to charge together - RAAARRR!
Last but not least - a Special Mention to: Eddie Tan! who gamely took up the highly dangerous position of Papillon drummer, quietly stood by us throughout the races, and did a swell job each time without falling into the water.
PS: We had a little celebration at Pierre's place, where helicopters flew the national flag in our honour and the RSAF Black Knights did a nice air show for us (loop-de-loops, 'arrow in apple' [off-spec heart, actually], and the works) before they popped by the NDP rehearsal. How nice. Dinner was a tad late as the four Golden Pillows had to be constructed from scratch - waiting for the chicks and lamb to grow before they were qualified to be cooked as our dinner, collecting the charcoal to bake the bun, etc. Luckily, the food was GOOD and it was great fun. Thanks Pierre for hosting us! And Ben for ordering the food!
= Chief Editor signing off =
No comments:
Post a Comment