Festival is on 10/4. GSK took it last year, I hear they are close to breaking 2:00

Are all the GSK crews from last year belong to Glaxo? Didn't know the company was THAT into dragon boat racing.

it's the Philly crew.

My understanding is that there were a number of GSK corporate teams at the festival last year, and that the Toronto GSK crew won it all.

I heard rumors that GSK combined the best of 2 or 3 office teams into the team that won

I heard a rumour that GSK sucked and if they are the best team going than this is going to be a slow festival.

GSK has been training hard and will field 2 teams, taking 1st and 2nd
Wyeth will probly take 3rd
The gym team that took 2nd last year has fallen apart and will not be in the running

Yes they are. One team from the Toronto locations and two teams from the Philadelphia area. The Toronto team is strong and work well together.
They just might take it again.

In response to all the GSK posts:
- the Toronto team last year comprised of the core GSK FireDragons that participate in the Festival circuit in Southern Ontario plus a few friends from other similar teams.
- this year's team is practically all FireDragons.
The rumour is that Mainline Health and Fitness has stepped up their training and is the crew to beat this year. If not them, then who else is good this year?

Upper Darby Police -- if there are donuts at the finish line

its philly who cares

Obviously Philly cares. Tell us something we don't know.

WHO IS GSK?

They have some elite paddlers in Philly. How come they stay away from this race?

Is Philly the least competitive festival of its size?

I suppose you could make an argument for Peterborough, Ontario. I hear they have over 100 teams, but a local-only rule keeps the Torontonians out.

This race attracts mainly corporate-sponsored teams and other novice types. It would be silly for the philly elite paddlers to race here.

GlaxoSmithKline

About GlaxoSmithKline Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK) is a world leading research-based pharmaceutical company devoted to discovering and developing new and innovative medicines and vaccines for Canadians and people around the world. Every day, our employees strive to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

http://www.gsk.ca/

GSK should be faster this year than last (depending on who the friends were in 2007).

2005 Rank 92
2006 Rank 70 -22
2007 Rank 58 -12
2008 Rank 38 -20

That's some pretty impressive stead and significant improvement. Best of the luck to the crew! Keep it up in 2009 and people will be forced to take notice.

50 percent - The chance this is a "look at me!" thread posted by someone on GSK.

40 percent - The chance this is a fake "look at me!" thread posted by somone intent on bashing GSK.

10 percent - The chance there's somebody on this forum, not affiliated with or intent on bashing GSK, who cared enough about the outcome in Philly to start this thread.



Oh, btw, my prediction:

GSK (toronto edition) takes it again. Have fun guys!

Most importantly, GSK are the guys who make Horlicks. Forget the paddling. Gimme some of that night-time brew.

whore licks?

Fire Dragons from Toronto took it in a hard fought final race. A well run event with wonderful hospitality shown by all local teams.

GWN did a good job, with somemthing like 150 crews participating and a sunk boat, which was dealt with quickly.

GSK firedragons took it? Congrats. Did philly show up? GSK beat them?

The 38th ranked team on the DBC ranking list won the festival??? Was this an exceptional performance by GSK, or a very non-competitive festival?

non-competitive, check the times

Like my buddy Al says, it's all relative (in this case with respect to competitiveness at a festival).

The Mainline Fitness team did a 2:05 something in their first heat. Some would say that's not competitive, but the other 95% of dragon boaters out there who have never been on a boat that fast may disagree. In the final race first place (lane 5) and second place (lane 3) were separated by 3/10th of a second, while third place (lane 4) was a mere 5/100ths behind second.

Regardless if you think the times were competitive or not, most will agree that those gaps make for an exciting finish to the day.

way to go Canada. GSK and Jetstart won Philly and San Fran this past weekend.

Congrats GSK, and wow, Jetstart too!

does Jetstart paddle all year round?

Jetstart is a once a week crew.

Man, if Jetstart practiced twice a week, they give Mayfair a run for the money!!

What if they practiced three times a week?!?!?!

I think they'd be better than False Creek!

A once a week crew that paddles twice a week for at least half the season, does OC1 almost every week and does a couple of paddling camps per season such as Peter's camp in Florida for a week and Matt's camp at Mont Tremblant. That does not really make Jetstart a once a week team. They worked hard to climb into "A" division this year from their usual "C" division finish at GWN. It was the result of hard work and Peter's great teaching of paddling technique.

Oh well, that makes a difference! ... so why aren't they faster? The rankings show them 7 seconds behind Mayfair!

"... so why aren't they faster? The rankings show them 7 seconds behind Mayfair!"

Dude, lots of teams that practice more than once a week or cross train are seven seconds OR MORE behind Mayfair.

Training gets you so far. Fitness gets you so far. Great coaching gets you so far. But being "scary fast" also requires a "scary fast" crew. Recruitment is the last step in the chain. Good recruitment can overcome deficits that would take years and years to erase simply by "trying really hard."

If Jetstart had not practiced at all and still won, THEN I'd be impressed