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Dragon boat team takes the gold for the fourth consecutive season

By:Colleen Ma, Co-Editors-in-Chief / Opinion Editor / Reporter
URL:http://www.lincolnlogonline.org/sports/2007/06/Dragon_boat_team_takes_the_gold_for_the_fourth_consecutive_season
Accessed:November 21, 2008, 1:18 pm
Copyright:  © Copyright 2007 The Lincoln Log. All rights reserved.
 

Rows of sleekly decorated boats fly through Lake Merced’s waterfront on the cloudy Saturday afternoon of April 21, 2007. Dozens of eager competitors waited for the start of the race in the cool, breezy air. This was the Sixth Annual Youth Dragon Boat Race.

   Dragon boat teams were represented by several schools and groups in and around the Bay Area. Aragon High School, Thurgood Marshall High School, Washington High School, Lowell High School, Galileo High School, the Community Youth Center (CYC), Calif. State University, the Gold Coast Dragons, Mission High School, and Abraham Lincoln High School competed against one another in a total of 19 seedings, or qualifying races.

   Out of all the races, Lincoln High School’s Gold team “A” team managed to show off their abilities in their first seeding of the day. In heat five, Lincoln paddled the quickest out of not only that race, but throughout the competition, having 2:19:22 as the fastest qualifying time of the day.

   The ALHS dragon boat team practices consist mainly of stretches, 1.5-mile runs before each practice, and sit-ups and push-ups during weekend practices. The team practices three times a week, dedicating about 2.5 hours to every practice.

   “We’ve done about the same drills that we’ve always done,” Dragon Boat coach and English teacher Bob Leung said. “The race course was left up from last year so we were able to use the race course [for practice]. [The Dragon Boat team has practiced] in all sorts of weather. A little bit of rain, a lot of cold, [and] a lot of fog,”

    The Gold Team took first place in the A division for the fourth consecutive season, the B team took fourth place in the A division, and the C team took sixth place in the A division. Each team competed against five other boats.

   According to Leung, this year’s team may have been “the best year ever” and it was the only year that all three boats were placed in the A division finals. Never had Lincoln, or any other school, placed all three of their boats in the A division.

   The boys’ first team once again took first place, with an undefeatable time of 2:21:59. The second place boys’ team took fifth place, following CYC by a little more than a second.

The girls’ team lost by half a second to Lowell High School, one of their biggest rivals, who took first place the year before.    “We didn’t practice as much as other teams did, but I think we practiced the hardest,” senior captain Linda Yan said. The Red Team raced at Redwood Shores on May 12 and placed fifth in the A Division. Contrasting from the April race, the May race consists of adults teams around the Bay Area. The Gold Team will compete in mid-June internationally at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver, B.C. The season will start up again towards the end of July to prepare for the Sep. race.