Looking at the race schedule, Ottawa has some pretty ballin' sponsors like Jewellers and Rolex(!).

http://www.dragonboat.net/media/28694/2009%20race%20schedule.pdf

Let's get 'em rolling.

Hmmm...I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Events Alive will win and it won't really be close at all.

Nice to see SCC Chiro in the lists again. Haven't heard much from them yet this year.

It's between them an Events Alive, depending on who EA puts in the boat.

Slim pickings. Ottawa's drawing flies this year. What's up with that?

1. Events Alive
2. Chiros
3. Gung-Ho

After that, I dunno. Doesn't look as deep as previous years.

I'm gonna go out on a limb.. and say.. Sleeman Breweries Ltd.. FTP (For the PARTY)

Could be the economy.
Could be that many competitive teams are in the GTA and the Island is the same weekend.
Could be that quite a few teams are planning on attending the Nationals later this year and they only have so much money for travel and accommodations in their annual budget.

The Dragon Beasts are travelling to Quebec instead - now with 2 teams and the Quebec teams are staying home.

So how did everyone do?

Wow. I'm guessing Level 6 is EA.

4 Level 6 1:56.90
5 SCC Team Chiro 2:02.37
3 Montreal Mix Club 2:03.83
6 Gung Ho: Liu Dental Centres 2:04.07
2 CSBD Magic Dragons 2:04.64
1 Ruban en Route 2:05.31
7 Phoenix ETS - Fireball 2:06.00
8 Chelsea Premier Mixed 2:07.83

1:56 is really impressive AND beating the Chiros by 6 second is even more impressive!

Just wished RCC would actually get together for more than one race, would love to see this team against the best.

The crew from RCC are most probably too busy training for Nationals and other competitions held during the summer.

The calendar at the clubs website for upcoming events looks very busy...

http://www.rideaucanoeclub.ca/home/calendar

Was it exclusively a Rideau Canoe Club crew, or did it also include sprint paddlers from other clubs who happened to be in Ottawa for training for the next sprint national team trials? In the past, Events Alive has included more than just Rideau Canoe Club paddlers.

Level 6 (a.k.a. Events Alive) was a RCC crew, made up mostly of the DB coaches, with a few development level (ages 16 - 18) paddlers. Some very good canoe girls in that group. Two of the NT members,one Rideau and one who trains there, legitimately on the roster, raced a couple of races. By the way, the crew also includes 6 people from the Senior Progam (back in the day.)