Who will be the best 5 teams in the country at the end of the season? I say;

Team SRS
G and G
X Pads
Mayfair
False Creek

Firstly three of those aren't really teams (Clubs) as we know them or think of them. More like all-star throw together teams. Sure you might race them at a single festical each year, but the who and the what of the teams based on who they can attract at that given time. You might as well add in Events Alive, Jim's Seniors and Canadian National team (opps SRS is already there sorry or are they G&G? Guess you will never see them both at the same regatta).

Not trying to pick a fight, but I still think we have a long way to go before we are comparing apples to apples in the Canadian DB scene.

SRS has always used the same core group of paddlers for many many years. The only thing that has changed is the name and the coach/cox. The G and G crew is an extension of what SRS has evolved from.

flame away

"The G and G crew is an extension of what SRS has evolved from."

Um, could you explain that? G&G is an extension of SRS? Or an extension of what SRS has evolved from? I don't get that.

Mofo and Telus will be right up their as well

Maybe if you compare the g&g bodies with srs you will find that they have all raced together at some point in time on the national team.Maybe that is what the poster meant.

Say it any way you want, but SRS is more or less the National Team plus minus whatever fill ins are needed. G & G has as many of the same paddlers on it as they can depending on which event and rules apply.

IE. Currently the G&G brand is the club crew registerable (IE. meets PP rules etc) version of SRS/National Team. You can say anything you want, but thats the basic facts.

That said, it doesn't mean they are doing anything wrong. Just so happens that most of the folks on the National Team are all friends and have paddled together for years. Only natural that they would want to stay together as much as possible for the various racing formats/avenues. The fact that they just happen to be stupid fast just sucks for everyone else.

I'm sorry second poster, but this is not a thread about the best "club crews", it's about the best team. And don't you think that the "national team" would be the best? Get your head out of you a$$.

Commonality lies in the fact that the teams are made up of flatties, albeit different groups of flatties, SRS is clearly the best contingent and supports the National Team in a direct sense. G&G is not as good as SRS, that is likely because they maintained a core group of flatties from the east end and add only a few higher end flatties to fill the gaps. While Scotia Rouge is similar in that they add flatties to fill in the gaps, they use a corporate base. Mayfair appears to be similar in that it uses its Mayfair base and adds a couple of flatties as well.

PDBC, interesting mix of flatties from the WRCC war canoe system and dragonboat paddlers that have come up through the high school system in the east end. Very motivated and on any given day look out.

False Creek, some great paddlers.

What does that translate into, on any given day any one of these teams could win in a head to head race.

How does that affect the worlds, I think we are watered down to much and have set ourselves up to be picked off by the Russians and Czechs, possibly the Australians.


However, this is not the case in Womens, Montreal Women will be the class of the field, as will be the Russian Men Shtoorm.

My 2 Cents

There are more men flatties doing db and thats why they can put together another team to get around the club crew rules, like G & G. Not as many strong flattie women in db to put together a team that would have given Montreal a run for their money.

Good point on the women, however, after Tampa Bay I would say the Canadian Future in Dragonboating is looking awesome. Albert and Tony working together in the Maritimes will certainly drive the bar higher, their womens war canoes have been incredible for years, not to mention mens war canoes, it will be a welcome addition to the Dragon Boat Racing at the Club Level.

Oh yes they will be awesome! Very strong in warcanoe and will certainly push the bar higher.

"Mayfair appears to be similar in that it uses its Mayfair base and adds a couple of flatties as well."

Don't you mean... they add a couple of fatties?"

Not club teams? Okay, good to clarify.

1. National Team Trials winner
2-6. Who cares.

Done.

1:43 - haha! I said, haha!

2:05 - well said.

Anon@2:05 - you're just a simple minded moron that wouldn't understand a decent sentence to save your own life.

The original poster asked who we believe would be the the top 5 teams at the end of the season. You're idiotic answer had no substance nor use. If you can't say anything useful, just be quiet.

Having vented that out, I would go with the original list too, although not necessarily in that order. I may even make a substitution for Scotia Rouge.

The original question was silly and pointless to begin with, so why not lampoon it?

The question is pointless because on any given weekend, any team can be "the best" if they import enough talent. So if all you care about is the "best" team, or best 5 teams, then I say it can be just about anyone willing to pay the freight for whatever current or former national team level CCA athletes are available that weekend.

This preoccupation with pre-ranking the season is just silly.

mooooofooooooos

stupid baiting

"on any given weekend any team can be "the best", if they import enough talent" First of all, people don't move around on teams unless the team is going through major changes or the individual just doesn't fit in with the crew etc.(2nd scenario is hightly unlikely, as the person was probably a good fit when they came to the crew). A paddler of the calibre of the five teams mentioned, which btw I do agree that they are the best crews around, would only be interested in competing at the level they are used to, so they wouldn't go to any team that could import the talent. Now that said, we both may be talking about the same thing here. If you were to ask any of the five teams mentioned, they don't care who's importing who and whether or not they are a true "club crew", they just want to race at the highest level possible with the most competitive teams out there (I know this doesn't really have anything to do with this thread, but just thought I would add my two cents).

The only other team that might be included in this is Dragon Beasts from out east.