Close call with a dragon

Last Sunday St. Clare's entered another eager team into the Rotary Dragon Boat competition in Abingdon. Out of the 25 teams that entered St. Clare's were the youngest by far.

The team consisted of Matthew Greenwood, Keisi Hysa, Denisa Kokedhima, Tinna Bjork Gunnarsdottir, Christopher Caioni, Andrew Reece, Zak Ely, Jakub Lis, Bexultan Seksenbayev, Giulia Marzocchi, Hannah Woodfield, Sergey Gostev, Philipp Leibfried, Maximilian Mueller, Steven Callaghan and Rebecca Winfield. The team were coached by the experienced and enthusiastic dragon boat expert Colin Ely.

The first practice we had before competing on the water was a dry run outside our tent to get an idea of how to effectively use the paddles in the water.

Our first race was against Christ Church Abingdon and our inexperience showed with a lack of timing with the paddles, but our drive and enthusiasm got us through and we finished the race in a dead heat with a time of 1 min 19.86.

It was clear that for our second race we needed to raise our game, which came in the form of improved tactics in the boat and a face lift for the team. Tessa and Elsa Ely provided the face lift for the team with the application of team bonding and intimidating warrior paint. The changes worked well with us gaining an impressive time of 1min 15.91 against the all French team of La Galere but coming a close second.

Our third and final heat was against The Anoraks who ended up looking like a dot on the horizon, as our team put in their best performance with a time of 1min 14.49 leaving The Anoraks with a face full of spray. This was thanks to the team getting a feel for the boat but also because each team member got a high five from our team mascot baby Ollie from Australia.

It was clear now that our team would make it into the major finals. The major finals consisted of the four teams with the quickest times from the heats.

1. Drowning Owls 1 min 10.92
2. 16 Stags Sinking 1 min 14.81
3. St. Clare's 1 min 14.49
4. La Galere 1 min 15.62

Team captain and top class drummer Keisi drew lane one for the final, which saw the team closet to the bank for the four boat final.

A nervous and excited crew entered the boat to get ready for the final. The team had their best start on the water and started the first part of the race in second. Which was very impressive considering the team was competing against two crews of adult men and a third crew of male rowers with one female paddler. It was intense battle to the finish line with the whole crew giving it everything they could, putting in the best performance of the day. But unfortunately it was not enough, being pipped at the post for a medal position by just three hundredths of a second.

1. 16 Stags Sinking
2. Drowning Owls
3. La Galere
4. St. Clare's

Thanks to everyone who was involved, we will be back next year for a podium position. Our efforts in the race have raised money for our chosen charity - Macmillan Nurses, an organisation who provide practical, medical and financial support for people with cancer.

May