Check out www.dragonboateast.ca for the pic of the week. Cool shot of Scorolla, Giles and Dustin Whalen.

Steve Giles in a dragonboat.

I never saw the day that would happen.

You know what, this is good for dragonboat as more flatwater athletes are inclined to get involved in the sport after they retire.

Good for Steve. He joins Martin Doctor and many other top canoe paddlers who race for their club teams in Europe.

Really, its time for sprint paddlers to get OUR collective heads out of OUR asses and recognize dragonboat as a legitimate and worth paddling discipline. There is no shame in paddling in a dragonboat just like there is no shame in paddling in marathon canoe, OC's, Canoes and kayaks

Not the least bit surprised Stevie is in a dragon boat. Why would you be? Nor the other two mentioned who have been doing it on and off for a decade.

Looks like real paddling to me! Who did they race - was it really a measured 2K in 8:27?

What "impresses" me is that their website says they came in 3rd! Who were the two teams that beat them?

I believe that there were two DragonBeasts teams participating in the 200m event and placed 3rd and 7th overall. For the 2000m race, the DragonBeasts did indeed finish 1st

Either way, who could beat the Dragonbeasts in ANY distance?

the Mofos were there.. how did they do?

"Either way, who could beat the Dragonbeasts in ANY distance?"

How about the Senior National DBC?

Oh, that's right, they made a "tactical error". So really they won, even though they lost.

hee hee

flame on!

Re the race in Ottawa to SNP the Beasts lost. SNP was better.

Re the Halifax Festival, it's a blast. The local canoe clubs race a 2 K pursuit at the lunch hour in front of the 200m paddlers. It is a fund raiser, the level of the race is high. The DBE Red Crew also raced and won handily.

In the main festival, The Beasts Gold crews split evenly and came 3rd and 7th. The Red crew, and the local canoe club paddlers stay out of the main regatta and race each other in the 2K race instead.

MOFO's paddled very well in the 200m and came 2nd. Halifax really enjoyed having them.

Excellent racing weekend, couldn't have asked for better weather. With east coast paddlers heating up the dragonboat scene I reckon the rest of Canada will be scramblin to keep up

"Dragon Beast
Halifax Festival July 12 2006, 4:10 PM

Re the race in Ottawa to SNP the Beasts lost. SNP was better."

That's what I like to see, acknowledging your competition with no excuses, no justifications. Just respect.

Hope to see you guys in T.O. sometime.

Also, I would love to hear from the Mofo's about how much their trip cost. This could be a nice road trip for more Ontario teams next year.

Road Trip out east? That's like a what, 20 hour drive?

Or a 1.5 hour plane flight.

Aquaholics from Toronto went to Halifax a year or 2 ago I think.

Doubt they would have driven there either.

> I would love to hear from the Mofo's about how much their trip cost

There is a lot of volatility in the price of flights from Toronto to Halifax. Most of us paid about $350 to fly down. If you are considering this trip next year keep an eye out for seat sales. You may be able to do better than that. Remember to ask for a group rate as well.

The cost of the festival itself is $1000.

Some of our paddlers are from Dartmouth so we were able to stay with family and avoid the cost of accommodations. Lake Banook is actually in Dartmouth which is across the harbor from Halifax. If you'd like to stay close to the race site you could look up one of the bed and breakfasts in Dartmouth or perhaps stay at the Holiday Inn. On the other hand, downtown Halifax has some nice hotels and it's only about a 20 minute drive to the race course.

The race course itself is second to none. Here's a picture showing the tower at the finish line:


Here's a link to a higher resolution picture we took of the dragon boat festival:
http://mofo.risto.net/mofoto/album142/afh?full=1

The festival had somewhere around 70 teams. The regatta was a 200m event. I would say the level of competition is somewhere around Waterloo/Stratford. The top dragon beasts team didn't race as a full crew in the 200m but if you are a top Toronto team it sounds like they would be responsive to setting up a special race. There was also a single heat 2000m race with some canoe club participation.

I hope that helps!

A mofo in the CHIN bikini contest???!!!!!???


SEXAY!!!!!!


http://mofo.risto.net/mofoto/album141

Thank for the strategic information, Mathieu