see link for list of team
http://www.oakvilledragon.com/index.php?iid=players07

Too easy?

1. Hydrophobic Dragons - Hope the lanes are more fair here than in Waterloo
2. Eat Trout - Clearly second in a shallow field.
3. Cyclones - Sure
4. Mayfair Warriors - Why not?
5. Stratford Women - I guess so.

Eat Trout will win

Eat Trout
Hydrophobic
Komodo
Flying Shanghai Noodles
Mayfair Warriors
Buroak Canoe club

Who's Eat Trout??

Hydrophobic Dragons is going to take it by a mile.

Eat Trout is winning it for sure.

According to Dragon Boat Canada, Hydrophobic Dragons are on average 3.3 seconds faster than Eat Trout which is equivalent to atleast two boat lengths. I don't know dudes, Oakville seems like it's Hydros' win.

You were doing so well until "equivalent to atleast two boat lengths"

3.3 seconds is almost a boat. Closer to 4/5ths

Well, it all depends on the rate at which the two boats are moving.
Assuming Hydrophobics have a faster rate than Eat Trout, then the boat length of 3.3 seconds will be much longer than if they was a slower team - and vice versa. Hydros are considerably fast, they got into A division at Centre Island.. and Montreal I think?

Anyway, stastically, Hydros are faster than Eat Fish. When race day comes, it comes down to the milisecond. So we'll have to see.

Depends on how many predators are helping out their younger siblings

From Dragon Boat Canada:

Hydrophobic Dragons - 2:04.6
Eat Trout - 2:07.6

Time differential - 3.0 s

2:04.6 = 124.6 s

500 m / 124.6 s = 4.01 m/s

4.01 m/s * 3 s = 12.03 m


From Simon River Sports:

dragon boat length - 12.50 m

12.03 m / 12.50 m = 0.96

Not even one boat length, let alone 2 boat lengths.

Let's compare with Mayfair @ 1:59.2

Time differential = 2:07.6 - 1:59.2 = 8.4 s

1:59.2 = 119.2 s

500 m / 119.2 s = 4.19 m/s

4.19 m/s * 8.4 s = 35.20 m

35.20 m / 12.50 m = 2.82

Now that's more like it.

As some of you newbies are about to find out, the ranking times have little to do with head to head racing. In top 10 on that list there are crews ahead of other crews and they've never beaten them in head to head racing. They have faster times, yes, but head to head is different.

What do you mean by head to head? I am new to the sport. Thanks!

No, really???

I was under the impression that all regattas were exactly the same!!! All the race courses are exactly the same dimensions, same configurations, and same currents, winds, and temperatures!!! And of course, all crews are the exact same with the exact same training!

Geez, that never occurred to me before!!!

"As some of you newbies are about to find out, the ranking times have little to do with head to head racing. In top 10 on that list there are crews ahead of other crews and they've never beaten them in head to head racing. They have faster times, yes, but head to head is different."

Lol! So the rankings mean nothing unless you beat a crew head to head. Thereby I would expect that Hydrophobic Dragons (10) would take down Events Alive (3) since they never raced together so how could you now the outcome? Gimme a break - when crews eventually do race togther head to head the rankings have been shown to be a pretty good predictor.

Way to overreact.
Eat Trout could bring a crew out that could give our National team a run for their money. They have done that in the past. They know how to race. Their times aren't true indicator of their speed.
Anyways, if Eat Trout brings half a decent crew they will win it.

it's oakville, weak field. no need to get your panties wet

Does anybody know if the course is going to be short like last year? Are we going to see 1:40 to 1:50 heats.

"Way to overreact.
Eat Trout could bring a crew out that could give our National team a run for their money. They have done that in the past. They know how to race. Their times aren't true indicator of their speed.
Anyways, if Eat Trout brings half a decent crew they will win it. "

Lol! Who is the noobie now. I'm not saying Eat Trout couldn't pull together a faster crew than Hydro - but why would they do it for Oakville while brining there "B crew" to the race off? Unless you know something I don't I would say the educated guess is that Eat Trout will be no faster than the race off - thus Hydro takes it.

Isn't Eat Trout = Huron Kayak?

The last time they raced as Huron Kayak was four years ago. I imagine this year's team is some kind of metamorphasis of that crew.

"Their times aren't true indicator of their speed."

that is right up there with "just because you won the race does not mean you are the fastest"

or

"they could have easily won the race if they had their real crew there"

or

"they won by subbing paddlers who had not raced all weekend"

I completely agree with the last entry.

However honestly, before today, I have never even heard of the team Eat Trout. I've heard of Hydro several times before and I'm not that new to the sport - 3.5 years. Maybe it's just me.

It is just you. In 2005, Eat Trout ranked 8th, Hydrophobic are 54th.

http://www.dragonboatcanada.org/rankings/2005_Top250.htm

Racey Realtors
Hey Judes
Hatching a Dragon
Kids R Us
FG 54

There you have it, your bottom 5

3.5 years? Rookie.

There maybe some confusion about Eat Trout. Previous 3 years they raced as a premier team with many paddlers 40+. This year they are racing as a Grand Masters team.
In Oakville there will be a Grand Master mixed and womens team. The mixed is a combo of the A and the B team. Should do fairly well. The mixed A did a 2:02 in the CCWC race off and the B team did a 2:09. Look for about a 2:06 in Oakville depending on length and conditions. Should be close with Hydro but hard to call.

With no other fish teams. Eat Trout will win. They have experience and they are strong. Maybe the young bucks on Hydrophobic will learn a few things.

As for the top 10 boats.

1 Eat Trout
2 Hydrophobic
2 Mayfair Warriors (if stacked with the Predators)
3 Burloak Canoe Club - A Crew??
4 TD Twin Dragons
5 RBC Royal Dragons
6 Flying Shanghai Noodles
7 Quicksilver
8 Pogue Ma Hones
9 Eat Trout Grand Masters Women
10 RBC Golden Lions

Let’s not rule out Burloak Canoe Club who has 4 crews entered. You never know whose paddling, so all of the above might change with the BCC crews.
Burloak - BCC Strokes of Genius
Burloak - Blades of Fury
Burloak - Controlled Chaos
Burloak - Burloak XX Factor

"2 Mayfair Warriors (if stacked with the Predators)"

we should know by now that there is ZERO crossover between the two crews. ZERO

ZERO crossover!!!! Then prove it in Oakville.

If that’s the case: NEW Top 10

1. Eat Trout
2. Hydrophobic
3. Burloak Canoe Club - A Crew??
4. TD Twin Dragons
5. RBC Royal Dragons
6. Flying Shanghai Noodles
7. Quicksilver
8. Mayfair Warriors (ZERO crossover)
9. Pogue Ma Hones
10. Eat Trout Grand Masters Women

I agree there is little liklyhood of crossover with Mayfair Pedators. I would consider the Stratford Women team in the top ten. It will be an interesting matchup with the Eat Trout Women. In the CCWC the Stratford Women had a faster time than Eat Trout.

Ho many times do I have to say this? Their times aren't a true indicator of their speed.

Same day,same venue,same lane,same conditions. Other than not head to head not a bad indicator. The question is are they the same paddlers.

TD Twin Dragon number 4?? never heard about them before..

dont think any burlok teams will be that competitve.

i would not be surprised to see a few preds in the mayfair crew.

the preds have shut down their season (no more races) and we have already seen a few of them stray to fill in for other crews (see chaos in woodstock who had their coach and his wife both mayfair paddlers fill their vacant seats).

normally you would not see any crossover BUT both crews have the same coach, and the warriors have some spare seats, so it seems like a logical assumption that you may see a few preds help the warriors.

Heres the deal from outer harbour.

Eat trout is bringing their A team that will represent canada as our Grand seniors in Austrailia. They are using this race as a gear up. Therefore their best will be on the water.

Mayfair Warriors will indeed have a few predators on their roster, but how many, im not sure.

Hydrophobic will be the same crew plus or minus a few regulars.

It will be a good day of racing.

1. Eat Trout Mixed
2. Hydrophobic
3. Burloak Canoe Club – 1
4. Mayfair Warriors (Crossover will put this crew in the top 5.)
5. TD Twin Dragons
6. RBC Royal Dragons
7. Flying Shanghai Noodles
8. Pogue Ma Hones
9. Eat Trout Women
10. Stratford Women
11. Komodo Women
12. Burloak Canoe Club – 2
13. RBC Golden Lions
14. Burloak Canoe Club – 3
15. Burloak Canoe Club – 4

Mayfair has shut down their season? No Preds at GWN????

I wonder how many Warriors will give up their seat to a predator for a win?

"Mayfair has shut down their season? No Preds at GWN????"

Of course note. The entire team is now gearing up for the World Championships.

Was that really nec?

not 10:04, but yeah, it's nec
why not? They still won't win, predators or not.

this is not the eat trout you guys think it is, Hydrophobic will finish first

"I wonder how many Warriors will give up their seat to a predator for a win?"

Please...nice people who paddle once a week...give it a rest.

RE: WIN THIS August 16 2007, 10:04 AM


"I wonder how many Warriors will give up their seat to a predator for a win?"

Zero will - they are filling on for vacant seats. That is a pretty sad accusation on your part.

Pogue Ma Hones above Trout women? I don't think so.

I think the question is "how many predators will give up a weekend at home to fill a vacant seat for the warriors?".

1 Mayfair
2 Eat Trout
3 Hydrophobic

1 Mayfair
2 Eat Trout
3 Hydrophobic

WTF - you are officially on crack - 2 to 3 predators will not make the warriors better then hydro!!

Eat trout is the grand masters team - yes they are decent but they wont beat hydros.

Hydrophobic will win this festival easily!

So?

It's not done yet. The regatta is today, not yesterday.

I cannot express my disgust enough at the poor display of sportsmanship put on by the Eat Trout Grand Masters Women plus the four men that helped them win the division. The spirit of competition is obviously lost on them and i am somewhat embarrased to have them represent Canada in Austrailia if this is the way they comport themselves. I have been told they put 4 men on their womens team in the Final because they felt they had a disadvantage against the other teams two of which were womens crews, what will there strategy be at the World level where these slimy tricks are not allowed. As for the organizers sorry to say some teams simply will not return because of this unorganized issue and it was a bad call I hope Eat Trout enjoys their empty victory!!!!!!

I cannot express my disgust enough at the poor display of sportsmanship put on by the Eat Trout Grand Masters Women plus the four men that helped them win the division. The spirit of competition is obviously lost on them and i am somewhat embarrased to have them represent Canada in Austrailia if this is the way they comport themselves. I have been told they put 4 men on their womens team in the Final because they felt they had a disadvantage against the other teams two of which were womens crews, what will there strategy be at the World level where these slimy tricks are not allowed. As for the organizers sorry to say some teams simply will not return because of this unorganized issue and it was a bad call I hope Eat Trout enjoys their empty victory!!!!!!

The Outer Harbour did well today with 3 of the 5 crews in the A final...well done.

Results?

let me guess, hydro - eat trout and the warriors made the a final?

Wow...9:12 I almost can feel uor excitement and joy as well.
That must be wonderful, we are all mightly impressed.
Considering the fact there was really only two crews of any note
at the festival.

anon 9:04 and 9:06.

Maybe their is a little more to the story and you are jumping to conclusions.

I don't know what the rules were at oakville but if they had a women's category and allowed the 4 men to race in it, maybe it was a special situation??

I highly doubt that the Eat Trout crew would stoop to that level.

9:16 - don't be a smart ass.

Actually, if you count Eat Trout, there were 4 Outer Harbour crews in the A final.

Stop the presses.
Outer Harbour Sweeps Oakville Dragon Boat Festival.

Abandon all hope.

The Oakville Organizers really dropped the ball in handling the protest allowing Eat Trout Grand Masters Women to race with 4 men on their final. My team didn't submit rosters so I'm assuming that no one else did. So yeah, how can they check rosters, but it's Eat Trout Grand Masters WOMEN'S team! Men on Women's team is blatant stacking! Even if you're going stack, stack with women! We don't mind losing to the better team but beat us fair and square!

Oakville Organizers - you won't see us back next year.

Did the event run on time or where there snags? My team didn't go because it was a Sunday and we all like to have dinner together. We are one big happy paddling family.

Please my friends. Let's put to an end all this talk about us using men in the boat to replace our ladies. They were women and not men.

Don't be fooled by their outward appearance even though a few did look like rough and rugged guys. They weren't. We have perfected a chromosome test that is 100% reliable and would never bend the rules to win a silly little medal.They have been recruited for their skill and not their looks.

All the so called men in our boat are prim and proper ladies who have female interests and 2 are even trying to get pregnant at this time.

The chromosome test allows us to recruit real women for our top teams. I wonder about some of the other teams who don't rely on testing. I suspect that we are being targeted and they get off the hook because of their alleged female qualities.

We can prove our point. Can they?

Usually the sequence is that the results are posted, and then the complaints start. We seem to have jumped straight to the complaints... does anyone have the results?

Hello.....results anyone?

Eat Trout was a respected team, untill Sunday where they used thier womens team to fit themselves into the B division. Then to take the B division gold they then add 4 men to their boat. Allowing them to gain 2 top spots. How disappointing for all other paddlers whom earned their positions in the B division and then to have to race an A division crew. The officals may have had their hands tied because they had already given permission for the boat swap to happen but consulting others in that division may have been appropriate to. It was a tainted win and for beening a team that has been built up to this level they know that they would not have accepted this behaviour from another team racing them. Too bad it left such a bitter taste in the mouths of others whom earn the right to be in the B division.

Let's take a deep breath and look at the big picture. The Eat Trout Mixed A Final was the very next race. It was anticipated to be a very tough battle with Hydrophobics. We needed 8 strong women in the boat for that race and didn't want to make them do back to back races. We're talking about people who are all over 50. We also had extra men who had only done 1 or 2 races so putting them in the B Final race was also an opportunity to give them a second or third race for the day.

I can understand why some of the other teams are upset, and maybe our reasons should have been better communicated to people. I can assure you that there was no intent to stack a boat just to win a B Final at Oakville.

Hope this makes you feel a little better about Eat Trout. We may be old but we're not nasty (at least not yet)

Those old folks are pretty fit. Don't put age into it. The whole idea of submitting a roster is to declare who is paddling in that boat. I bet those men probably were not declared on the Eat Trout Women roster in the morning when the roster was submitted. Shame on you.

Why didn't the women just take it easy in the Women's division?

I agree that this seems pretty unsportsMAN like.

Why then (you knew by the end of the day you would be in top positions, close together races) if you had extra men did you not just enter a mix crew from the begining? Oh but then you would have had a real problem two different boats in the top A division with all your paddlers doing back to back races! It was a women crew and I can see you resting paddlers except you came to the race knowing the scheduals as you are professionals, what to expect, and knowing what paddlers you had. What if your women made it into the top 8 I guess you never planed for that then? Again two boats in the A division. I think you have been to enough races to know that you would be just as angry at that kind of behaviour and how you would see this if you were the boat paddling with an A crew instead of the qualifing crew you entered with.

So, what were the top 3?

1. Hydrophobic Dragons 2:01.48
2. Eat Trout Grand Masters 2:01.95
3. QuickSilver 2:06.33
4. Mayfair Warriors 2:08.08
5. RBC Royal Dragons 2:08.68

As one of the competitors who was in Oakville yesterday, I had the opportunity to compete against some great teams. I wanted to say that I have never been paid a higher compliment. The Eat Trout Masters WOMEN team was so worried about not being able to beat two other women's teams and two mixed teams that they had to stack the deck for the final B Championship race. To me, that is the highest compliment you can pay to the other teams in your division.

What really sucks about the decision made by the officials is that they penalized a mixed team for not having enough women, but they wouldn't penalize a women's team for having men on the boat. Too bad for you, you didn't ruin my day, I had a great time and enjoyed the racing. I think our team had some great races and posted some great times. Congrats to all our ladies. And congrats to the Komodo Divas, you are the winners in my eyes.

So how preds were on the warriors team !!

Anyone knows the photographer's web site for the regatta?

I concur that the Komodo Divas were the winner of the B division

I'm going to enter my mens team in the womens division next year and kick some butt. What were the organizers thinking???

I don't know who is worse, Eat Trout for doing it or the organizers for not DQ'ing them.

The lovely women of Eat Trout are THE friendliest people on Earth. Guys, have good sportsmanship and consider their situtation. A lot of them have been paddling for more than half their lives. A lot of them are our mothers and our grandmothers. Whatever they do, they're still our elders - have respect and be tasteful. I agree that they should have been penalized with 2 secs or something for having men on their team, but that is at the fault of the Oakville organizers and not the team.

As well, to all those who ragged on about Hydrophobic Dragons vs Eat Trout - who's gonna kick who's ass - those two teams get along so well and even share the same two coaches, Steve and Stan. Don't make trouble and create rivalry between the two sibling teams. They even set camped right beside each other yesterday in Oakville. It was great.

So what you are suggesting is that because Eat Trout is older, they should be allowed to cheat?

I disagree. If we want to start using analogies like that, I would suggest that because Eat Trout is older, they should be held to a higher standard. As elders in the sport of dragon boating, they should be demonstrating sportsmanship and integrity and proving themselves as leaders and as examples to our junior and community teams. I don't think anyone has suggested that Eat Trout are evil, terrible people. Many of us know them individually. Some have paddled in the same boat. What we are saying is that, yesterday, as a team, they showed poor sportsmanship and cheated. It is a disappointing example being set by a team of "elders", and a team that is heading to Australia to represent "us". After yesterday, I am not thrilled about THAT idea.

The fact is, the roster problem was predictable for Eat Trout. They could have chosen to enter two mixed teams, or one mixed and one women. Whatever choice was made, it needs to be held to consisantly for the rest of the day. Qualifying for the final as a womens team and then racing some form of mixed boat is cheating. They have been in the sport for long enough, they don't need to blame officials. The fact is, they decided that the rules don't apply to them, and that they can pick and choose what they want to do based on their convenience. The officials simply let them get away with it.

The Divas deserve the gold, and the recognition that goes along with it. They've worked hard for a long time to beat their competition and should be properly rewarded. They demonstrated the teamwork, perserverance and sportsmanship that makes being on a women's crew so special. Eat Trout merely cheapened it.

When people say the 'organizers'... who is that?
GWN who knows better than to give permission for men to race on an all womens team...but is friendly with Eat Trout?
Or
are the organizers the Rotary Club who may not know better?

Why does this group always chose to go with the most negative interpretation of events? If a festival organization choses for some unknown reason to allow changes in rosters in the middle of a festival than please take them to task about it. In my opinion, it was a decision that should not have been allowed - end of story. To suddenly decide that b/c of an error in judgement on the part of a team and a festival organization that now the team is not a suitable representative of our country is rather harsh. All parties involved should have known better.

Eat Trout have done this before and pleaded innocent.

Welcome to festival racing - the rules are the rules of the organizing group,
not the boat or techical support staff.

It was the organizer's decision, aka the Rotary Club. The argument being that they had no control over the rosters of each team, and that it was a 'community' event, not a competitive one.

Congratulations to all crews that won their divisions.
Organizers - Rotary Club, Thank you for the unambiguous rules & regulations.


My crews ‘TD Twin Dragons and TD Komodo Divas’ enjoyed a challenging weekend. It had it’s up and downs but at the end it all worked out.

Women’s Championship:
Stratford and Eat Trout Women thank you for an excellent race. Thank you for the opportunity to race in a competitive women’s challenge. We will race again soon.

Bankers Cup:
It was all about RBC & TD in this one - RBC Dragons & RBC Lions vs. TD Twin Dragons & TD Komodo Divas.
To the RBC crew CONGRATULATIONS with wining the Bankers Challenge, your hard work paid off and I do owe you a case of beer which will be delivered at the GWN Challenge.

It was an excellent event for the OHDBC teams. Congratulations to Hydrophobic, Mayfair Warriors & RBC for finishing in the top 5.
I believe most of the other OHDBC crews also medaled in their divisions: Pogue Ma Hones, TD Komodo Divas, RBC and CTV Lake Lizards.


See you all at the GWN Challenge.
Michael

I am certain that they are not the only team that has been allowed to bend the rules and will probably not be the last. It would seem that our sport needs to have a clear set of rules that all festival organizations and teams are required to follow. Possibly then these situations would not happen. This is not the first festival & this is not the only team that has allowed non-rostered individuals to jump from boat to boat.

This isn't even like a "bending the rules" argument. Enter men in the women's catagory is clearly ridiculous. It's a "community event" so it would be ok if my crew didn't start at the starting line, but rather half way down the course cause it's for fun! How would Eat Trout feel racing 20 year olds in the Grand Master Division - they probably wouldn't see this as fair. The crew should never have attempted this and the organizers certainly should have laughed at them when they tried.

From Dragon Boat Canada:

Hydrophobic Dragons - 2:04.6
Eat Trout - 2:07.6

Time differential - 3.0 s
--------------------------

Much smaller time diff now, isn't it?
Rankings, while a valiant effort, are as correct as FIFA World rankings. That is, generally speaking, if and maybe

The rankings are based on a different course (TO), and don't include team's pulling each other down the course. They also are based on past performance, not who you brought this time (wow, Eat Trout shows up to different festivals with different crews - just like every other team).

I would wager that you were the guy saying Eat Trout would clean up with their national level team (that for some reason went to Oakville and not the CCWC?) and that through the magic of "head-to-head" where "fast boats are slow and slow boats are fast" would prove the rankings completely backward.

...sorry chump! Rumor has it that hydro didn't even manage to bring out all their players and they still won.

This was a mixed division that a ladies crew was entered in. Rosters were not were not required or enforced as it was a festival not a sport race. End of story.

If it was a mixed division shouldn't they have been disqualified for having too few men? I'm confused???

Yes it was a Festival (that didn't know any better) and they didn't have roster rules. Eat Trout does know better and shouldn't have taken advantage of this.

Something quite fishy about the Eat Trout Grand Masters Womens Team they have balls that is for sure

fish balls!

4 Preds

4 preds may be enough to vault the warriors.
I bet there was another couple hiding in the wings

what was the time for the division B then?

Let us see if Trout can be true champions and give the medals to the rightful team that deserves them.

what a bunch of whiners you guys are.

It does not seem like whining. Is this not a place to discuss things like this and maybe work out any bugs the sport may have? It seems like if the et wanted to race mixed it should have been that way from the beginning then they would have had two back to back A races?????????????? Oh but how could they rest those paddlers?

People who accuse others of whining are usually the people who are the targets. They just want to deflect blame by disrediting those that accuse them

nope i just think you guys are whiners.

What did the eat trout crew made up of 16 women beat you out of your coveted 11th place finish?

suck it up.

What Eat Trout did is not good. What the festival organizers did is much, much worse.

Coaches and Captains will bend, twist and stretch the rules to help their team. That's their job. So what the Eat Trout coaches & captains tried to do falls within the realm of not-a-good-idea-but-they-let-us-get-away-with-it-so-what-the-hell.

But for the organizers to allow flexible, unenforced rosters and blatant double-rostering is awful. It's a slap in the face to every crew that came there to race. The examples of ridiculous rule breaking, like entering a race partway through, aren't that far off. If you don't enforce rosters, then what the hell ARE you doing? Just let any 20 people jump in the boat for the A Final then, why not? It's just a festival , right?

Well, it's just a festival with 6-10 fewer teams next year because they don't need the headache of racing where the rules just don't count. You think this won't happen? Hmm. Check out how many teams attended London this year. They were up around the century mark less than 10 years ago. 60 fewer teams. How much revenue for your Rotary Club would that be? A big part of their decline of London was inconsistent application of the rules. Sometimes they were enforced, sometimes they weren't. Depended on who talked to who. A lot of teams said "F#ck it, not next year."

Oakville needs to decide if they are running a regatta, even a festival regatta or if they're running a glorified practice for Eat Trout. If you want to accomodate one team and their particular desires you will probabably piss off 6 others. One for six, make your pick.

Welcome to Festival Racing.
The last poster nailed it on the head.
However it is not the responsibility of Captains and Coaches
to pull every stunt they can to ensure they win.
You win the best way possible - train hard.

Crews started looking at Festivals when BuK'd started turning up and they
wanted to race faster boats, then cost became an issue so paddlers have switched to Ottawa now they run on the same weekend as Toronto. FMG decided
to make sure the local team somehow managed to get into the major finals...the list goes on.
But, ultimately the crew/paddlers decide.

The same way, a revolt will take place over the make-up of crews.
Coaches started to build "elite" crews several years ago.
Scott M started with PDBC, and the demise of RBC occured.
Mac made sure all of his paddlers had to leave their respective crews
to train only with the SNDBC, and you ended up with another section
of top paddlers being forced out of their mixed crews.
Farintosh has done the same this year with the Senior mixed crew
enabling Mayfair to walk away with every title possible - Scotia
Rouge lost three/four paddlers in the process.
Paddlers are becoming sick of the argument that you have to build
these "elite" crews to win - it destroys regular crews, diminishes
the sport and loses valuble sponsors to the racing community.

Dragon Boating has a long way to go.
Until the politics has been kicked into touch we will not move forward.
And, the example of this happens to occur every weekend in some form
or another, and the Dragon Boat Community just shrugs it shoulders each
time.



In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.
- Henry Miller, American author

It does not matter that they put men in the boat it is the fact that they were not on the offical roster therefore meaning that they should have been DQ'ed. They have been around a long time and they know the rules. Puls the mixed team was in the A final so wft were they trying to prove?

So, will there be a boycott of the Oakville Rotary's dragon boat festival next year?

With the exception of this one mistake on the Festival organizers part, the festival was run very well. I don't think this warrents a boycott of Oakville for next year. You guys are a bit harsh. I can understand if those effect teams don't want to come back, but perhaps someone from Oakville (the organizers) can speak up on this matter and clearify the decision made.

I think the problem here is that the Oakville orgaizers don't have the experience in handling non traditional rule bending. It seems to happen a fair amount but not to this extent. This was a unique case and the organizers were trying to be nice guys and not ruffle any feathers.

They probably didn't see this as a major faux pas but it was. Their focus is not on the racing. They leave that to GWN but there is a grey area when things like this happen. The organizers need to take responsibility but the problem is they don't understand the passion that is involved in this.

My suggestion to them and other event organizers is to uphold the rules and prior to the event appoint a committee of 3 knowledgeable people to be your go to people in cases like this. Let them make the decisions and live with it.

I can't see how anyone with any knowledge of the sport would rule on any thing other than a disqualification in this case.The option would have been to paddle with 16 women.

I am sure that Oakville has learned a major lesson in all of this. An apology might go a long way in this one from them to heal any wounds.Admit that an error was made and move on.

Festival Organizers admit a mistake? That's unpossible.

We still can't get the Waterloo guy to admit that lane 5 is favoured!!!

Looks like there were problems with Oakville AND London. I suggest that all teams go to Woodstock to race in August. It sounds like the majority enjoyed their time there... well run, fair lanes, decent distance from Toronto, willing to listen to feedback, and willingness to improve. All they have to do is introduce ghost lanes and have more vendors, suddenly we have ourselves a competitive venue!

On a practical level, most events don't check rosters until the finals (unless it is a DBC sport regatta/qualifier). This is because it will really slows down the event checking each roster every race. Also in the spirit of competition most events will let you borrow paddlers if they are short. On finals, most events check rosters on the grand finals but a lot of events still don't check rosters unless there is a roster protest. When a protest is made the organizer should uphold the rules. In this case ET should have been DQ'd. Unfortunately Oakville was relatively inexperienced in handling the situation and the roster rules were ambiguous.

I think I have figured out what the Trout thing is.
A team of old women , (minimum age 50 average age about 60+) raced against young mixed teams a made the B finals. They added four 60year old men for the B finals and won. Sounds unfair to me. No fun getting beat by grandparents , eh ?

It's probably a hell of a lot easier to train when you are retired - as long as you keep in half decent shape until then.

I think that an apology should be fortcoming from ET as well as the organizers.

Someone needs to make the first move.

I'm sorry.

That's right. I said it. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry that I hate all your Reese Pieces.

Good. That means you will only steal medal and not my Reese pieces too.

On behalf of the 2007 Oakville Charity Dragon Boat Festival I would like to
express our regret about the anxiety surrounding the B final.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the number of competitive teams that entered
our event. Our event up until now has been primarily focused on community teams
and fund raising for the affiliated charities. We were unprepared for this kind
of compeietive issue.

We look forward in the future to improving the compeietive side of the event
with the advise of our partners the Burloak Canoe Club and GWN. In fact anyone
with practical and constructive suggestions would be welcome to help us out.

We sincerely hope that everyone enjoyed the festival and look forward to seeing
you again.

John Base
2007 Oakville Charity Festival Chairman.

Your apology is duly noted however to play innocent now is a little late, several people tried to tell you over and over again that you were making a huge mistake by not following the rules and enforcing standard Dragon Boat rules. As with most atheletes Dragon Boaters are passionate about their sport and you were warned that you were being taken advantage of and yet you still showed no interest in resolving the matter. No matter what argument was presented to you, you chose the easiest too bad so sad route. The true chanmpions of the B division were the Komodo's

Blah blah blah.

Obviously written by a Komodo paddler.

What's done is done. The organizers MAY take this into consideration for next year. The truth of the matter is though, that the team that SHOULD HAVE won was Komodo. The team that ACTUALLY won was Eat Trout. Therefore the real winner is Eat Trout.

If you can't deal with that reality, kindly shoot yourself in the head.

Interesting that you would express regret over any anxiety your decision caused instead of apologizing for your bad decision. Sounds alot like a charity organizer trying to salvage next years event. A true and sincere apology sounds alot different and would have gone alot farther.

In the boat loading area people noticed well before the race what was happening with ET team. People approached the organizers and they called John on the walkie talkies and his response was "we will just make them more medals" Some of his people knew the team should not be allowed to race and after should have been DQ, but he wasnt interested in listened to any protests. His expression of regret for any anxiety sounds alittle lame. He showed very little intersted in trying to resolve the issue before or after the race. Maybe now he will believe the people that told him this would not go over well with the Dragon Boat teams.

The fact that this happen is very sad but I feel enough has been said on the subject. A lot of people have expressed their concerns and hopefully this would lead to better policies for next year so lets hang this up and focus on our next races. Good luck to everyone out there and leave your anger in the water at your next race and kick the teams butt.

I am going to give everybody the benifit of the doubt and assume the complaints are tongue in cheek because nobody can really beleive that an over 50 womens B team with 4 60+ men is unfair competition.
Well done Trout , good luck down under.

The usual rule of thumb is a second per man if they are the same paddling level for crews of this calibre. You might lose a bit because of the age dif - so maybe a 2-3 second benefit?

They didn't just put men on their team. they put men from the A division on a boat in the B division, whioch made the stacking even worse... Eat Trout claimed they had an "unfair disadvantage" because they were up against mixed crews.... big deal! the race was three women's crews, and two mixed crews... besides, they had paddled against mixed crews in two other races, so what was so different about the B final? i hope they're enjoying their "dollar store medals"

congrats to the kimodo divas for your moral victory! you girls are the winners in my eyes

and you are a loser in my eyes

"They didn't just put men on their team. they put men from the A division on a boat in the B division, whioch made the stacking even worse... Eat Trout claimed they had an "unfair disadvantage" because they were up against mixed crews.... big deal! the race was three women's crews, and two mixed crews... besides, they had paddled against mixed crews in two other races, so what was so different about the B final? i hope they're enjoying their "dollar store medals""

Haha you are such a putz. Yes most of their team just finished racing in the a final, they jumped out of one boat and into the b-final and still won. Eat Trout made no such claim that they had a "unfair disadvantage", i love how you make this crap up. Clearly you are jealous of the "dollar store medal" or else you would not be going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on for FOUR DAYS ALREADY. Give it a rest already.

sorry - i have to admit that I am having a great time antogonizing you people.

hahahahhahah

Relax. It's Oakville folks.

um, the b final was BEFORE the a final