Paddling for the UPAAS Paraws II

I slept early the previous night.  I think I went to bed at around 10 that when I woke up one and a half hours earlier, I was a bit disoriented and thought that it's already the day after.

I knew body pain was inevitable so I took one tablet of muscle relaxant with paracetamol.  I think that helped me sleep well too.  

I woke up at 6am but got up at 630am.  I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower.  It was my lucky day because my bus arrived shortly after I got to the bus stop.   So by 715, I was already at Lavender.  Too early for the 730am meet up time.

I had one major setback though, I couldnt connect to the network! So I didnt receive messages from the team. 

I went straight to the Kopitiam and waited for Raul and Mitchie. 

Good thing Raul arrived within a few minutes.  And Mitchie came shortly after him.  Then Bea.  After a quick breakfast, we went to the other exit to meet the rest of the team.  

There were a lot of Pinoys at the mrt station.  We even bumped into the UPStat team at the escalator.  

At 815, there were already a lot of teams at the venue.  We found a spot and camped there. The mood was festive.

The event was formally launched with an opening speech by FDS President, Mickee Balagot.

FDS President Mickee Balagot welcoming everyone to Isang Bangkang Malaya

After the speech was warm-up exercises.  And the start of the eliminations.

the UPAAS Paraws 

Maybelle sharing some tips on paddling

The boys goofing around the drone

Seventeen teams competed against each other.  There were five heats with the first two having four teams each and the last three with three teams each.  We were in heat two, paddling against King Ina mo Spawn - last year's winner and Balasador A & B (I think).

All the winners in each heat go straight to the semi finals.  After the 5 heats, there's gonna be a repechage. And the semifinals. And finals.

Even before the warm up, we knew what our chances were :)  I mean, one of the teams had their own paddles.  The others had their own shirts made.  And before the race, they had their own warm up exercises! I mean, it looked like they knew what they were doing! It didnt look like they were just there to support and have fun.  They were talking serious paddling business!

So to 'improve' our chances, we knew we had to strategize ;)

Our game plan was to treat the first leg as a practice.  And then give our best at the repa.  Sounds like a good plan, doesnt it?

There were 12 of us from UPAAS, all newbies except for one.  Four pacers and two newbies from FDS were fielded to our boat, upping the level of our paddling even just for a tiny bit.

And it's time to compete!

Paddling towards the start of the race area set the mood for us.  Even with our game plan in mind, we knew we had to paddle hard to at least keep up with the competition.

Paddling our way to the start of the race course

I personally could feel the tensed atmosphere.  My heart was beating fast.  I wanted to paddle well so I knew I had to calm my nerves.  

Upon hearing "Ready!", we dipped our paddles into the water. And at go, we all pulled hard and paddled. I paddled hard. I knew we were all paddling hard. But it seemed like it's not enough for the steerer who was barking "Longs!"  When we felt that water was getting into the boat, we knew at that point that we were lagging behind.  And it's gonna get tougher from then on because there will be ripples from the other boat that's going to make paddling more difficult for us. Nevertheless, we kept on going....until we were told to stop. 

Apparently, we were on the verge of colliding with Spawns.  They veered left towards our direction. And our steerer couldnt move away from them so to avoid an accident, both teams had to stop.

Even if I knew that we were lagging behind compared to the other teams in that heat and a re-race was a good chance for us to improve our timing, I felt bad that we didnt finish that leg. 

Taking a break 

There were 3 other heats before the re-race so we had a looong break.   I think it was already after lunch when the re-race started. We were paddling head to head with Spawn so we knew we had to level up. Man, it was tough!

Paddles accidentally bumping against each other. Too shallow paddling. The steerer's frustrated voice. We were in pretty bad shape in that leg.

Our second attempt to paddle

In the repa, we were in the same lane.  And it was out last attempt to make it to the semifinals.   Among all the legs, I thought this was our best one.  We were in synchrony.  Dangs (she's the only one I can see clearly from my vantage point) and I worked hard to make sure that the force was coming more from our upper bodies than from our arms. We werent even near the finish line yet we're already tired yet we kept on paddling.  I was counting softly.  I dont remember how many counts it took for us to reach the finish line.  And before we knew it, we're done!

I was so happy! I was so happy that we reached the finish line. I was so happy that I gave my best.  I was so happy that I knew I paddled better than the day before. And I was happy that everyone in the boat seemed satisfied with our performance.

Our last attempt to make it at least to the semifinals.  We were that boat at the far end, with everyone wearing red shirts.  Obviously we were trailing behind.

No we didnt make it to the semis but Im glad with how we performed.

Can you see the happy faces here?  Tired but feeling great.

The Paraws with our two pacers, Pez and Mix

We stayed until the end.  We cheered for the UP Stat team but they also didnt make it to the finals.

Ambassador Morales giving his closing remarks

Here, Ambassador Morales was delivering his congratulatory message to the winners, the organizers and to everyone who participated.  Aside from the medals and the cash prizes, the winners also had cases of beer. I learned that this is a tradition in IBM and in dragonboat competitions. 

It was definitely a fun experience.  Next year, we're gonna practice more :)

Ambush photo-ops with Ambassador Morales and Consul Mers