Hi,

The Dragon Beasts have garnered a lot of attention this year in Tampa, and Ottawa. I was just wondering if they have a website? I'm interested in looking up their results from previous years. They seemed to have came out of nowhere. Will they be doing any more Ontario races this year? I don't mean for this thread to turn negative like so many others do.

Cheers,
Rory

Dragon Beasts are predominately from a flatwater background. There are people in the crew who have raced at the international level. Most any canoe club would be able to put together an elite team.

How good are these "Flatwater" paddlers are from the Dragon Beasts winners of the recent Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Festival

Crystal Cameron, Trevor MacLean, Anne Gallant, Sabrena MacKenzie, Nacny Harnett, Bruce Chiaisson,

Max Tracy, Annie Baert, Bryan Burns, Debbie Hutchinson, Suzanne MacKenzie, Amy Rickard;

Dustin Whalen, Steve Gallant, Richard Morris, Albert McDonald, Beth Moriarty;

Mihai Apostal, Tim Schaus, Trent Waterhouse, Bruce Oakley, Brian Melanson

Can they take on an Ontario (MCC) or Montreal area "A" Team?

I don't think the Beasts could beat an MCC based mixed team as this group comprises the bulk of the National team, and has proven itself pretty much unbeatable in recent memmory.

Could the Beasts beat a Montreal area "A" team? I guess that means the Wong's Slayers, since Montreal doesn't really have a national level mixed team contender, and the Days Inn teams of old were Ontario/Quebec hybrids and weren't really Montreal teams. So yes, I think they could beat the best Montreal has to offer, which is the Slayers.



Aside from the Beasts, what I'm interested to see is how the Senior National DBC team is going to do after Ottawa. Looks like they really have their game together. I don't see them losing many races from here on in.

I'm pretty sure Mihai and Trent have been on the national db team before.

Well i guess we'll get to see a few of them paddle together at the worlds.

With the possible exception of the MCC/National Team roster the Beasts could beat anyone I have seen so far.

They made a tactical error in the Ottawa Final and that probably cost them 1st place. Mac's team was also awesome so that is a subjective oppinion on my part, but I think it likely based on them having won the previous head to head heat and looking strong in doing so.

They guys are still figuring out this whole Dragon Boating thing and are going to get better every time they race. They are a bunch of nice folks too so all the better for our sport with so many cry babies around.

what was the error?

12:27 I totally agree with you. Dragon boating is relatively young on the coast except for the guys who have flown here from the beginning. They are incredibly strong in warcanoe and will probably end up forcing more flatties in the GTA to start competing again in order to not let them take away the bragging rights.

I've heard this too much now. I don't believe in this tactical error nonsense. If they were the better team, they would have won. Simple as that.

"No excuses." Isn't that what the sprint paddling community types are always trying to tell us?

Nothing against the Beasts, just those making excuses on their behalf.

You either know too little or you're one of those paddlers who is lucky to be on a good boat that wins most of the time. Either way, when teams get reasonably close, tactics make a difference.

Buddy, I know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't make assumptions when you don't know the speaker.

Here's one for you: if they were the better team , they wouldn't have made the error. The steersman is part of the team, no? And if they were the clearly superiour team then it wouldn't have mattered.

So stop making excuses already.

Anon 1:25, have you ever felt the effects of wash riding on your boat?

For better of for worse wash riding iis part of the sport. If you can take advantage of it, all the power to you. No knock against Team Chiro is intended.

If the Beasts had managed to stay clear of Team Chiro as opposed to hugging the lane marker who knows what the result would have been. Still it was a great race, and the Beasts were extremely gracious all weekend. Certainly a welcome addtion to the DB community here in the MTL, OTT and TOR area.

By the way, my team could never come close to where these guys are competing, and definately no disrespect to the SNP. A well deserved vicotry for sure. You were incredible to watch.

In respond to Anonymous at 10.51

There is no teams left in Montreal area who could compete with Beasts. Majority of Slayers is retired as of last year, so the team is new (the name is the same though) and not as strong as it was two years ago. Watch for other teams, Telus for example....

I have been very impressed with the Beasts. Even on this thread, you don't hear them whining or making excuses. Albert McDonald got up at the awards and graciously congratulated SNP and Sudbury and I heard from the SNP crew that to a man (and woman) the Beasts just felt they got beat fair and square and that Sudbury had a great race.

They definitely were too tight to the right buoy and I'm sure they learned from that - but to you Beasts - please don't change. Any Festival that you guys choose to travel to is lucky to have you.

"whatever June 28 2006, 1:53 PM

Buddy, I know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't make assumptions when you don't know the speaker.

Here's one for you: if they were the better team , they wouldn't have made the error. The steersman is part of the team, no? And if they were the clearly superiour team then it wouldn't have mattered.

So stop making excuses already."

The reality is in sport sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Doesn't necessarily mean you are a better or worse team, just that you were faster or slower on that day in the race in question. A good team WILL make mistakes but they'll learn from them and be better next time. It has nothing to do with excuses. Anyone who understands sport, obviously not you, knows that it is never as cut and dried as you suggest it is.

The winning team paddled better and didn't make mistakes. It's that simple, and that is sport.

What don't YOU understand?

(once again, nothing against the Beasts here, just their idiot apologists)

!0:41 perhaps it comes down to team strategy and one teams worked better. Its not making excuses at all. Lighten up.

"Alf June 29 2006, 10:41 AM

The winning team paddled better and didn't make mistakes. It's that simple, and that is sport.

What don't YOU understand?

(once again, nothing against the Beasts here, just their idiot apologists)"

So I am an idiot apologist? You ignorant git. Where did I make an excuse or say that the Beasts were still a better crew? Nowhere. I merely said that the beautiful thing about sport is that you have to win on the water and not on the forum. Dummies like you read everything into one race and then go posting all over the forum that one crew is better than another with such authority, when the reality is it can all change, and probably will, from race to race if a crew can learn from what they might have done wrong.

It makes me laugh to see you guys get so worked up over who is better when most of the time the people in the boats involved aren't anywhere near as worked up about it. Trust me on that. Get a life.

Best way to settle it is on the water. When are they racing next?

The Halifax regatta is next week but I doubt if SNP is making the trek out East.

Re the tactics, mistakes and wash riding, please see my response in the Ottawa results thread.

With respect to the Halifax Festival, it is an awesome festival, on the best dragon boat course in the country, run by officials and volunteers second to none. It is a community based festival, 200m races and our 2 Gold teams - hard working community sport crews, many of whom are fairly new paddlers, are racing and we are very excited to see how they do.

Our Red Crew is the competitive sport crew and they will be racing the 2K pursuit race at lunch time against all star teams from the local canoe clubs in front of all the teams. (there are 80 teams) It is a highly competitive race and a fundraiser for the canoe clubs.

I extend a challenge to any team, including SNP, to come race us here. You will find an unbelievable event, and we would make a special 500m Sport Race and include some of the canoe clubs. We will guarantee you a highly competitive event, the Beasts using our full roster on our home court.

Dragon Boat East is hosting it's own event on August 19th and all the Beast crews will be racing. Again, we welcome and invite our fellow out of town teams to join us. We would absolutely love for some teams to come out east.

Having travelled to Tampa and Ottawa, our next race is tenatively the Quebec Cup in Montreal. We look forward to the event, which we hear is extremely well organized, run by 22 Dragons. See ya all down the road.

Thanks for the kind comments in this thread about the Beasts. It means alot to us coming from our fellow competitors.

hey beasts! we'll be making the trek out to the east coast to see what the fuss is all about. should be a great time! can't wait to meet all the beasts of the east coast paddling scene. see you there.