Dragon Boat Racing

2000 TCBA DRAGON BOAT - DON'T MISS THE BOAT!

Since TCBA Jr's inception, TCBA has been part of the Dragon Boat circuit.  Starting with a crew in 1992, TCBA's success, race after grueling race, has made it the team to beat, with an unprecedented 3 competitive-level teams racing the waters in 1999!

Due to popular demand, TCBA Junior Chapter launched a fourth crew in 2000 to compete in Dragon Boat festivals throughout Ontario.  Having achieved great success in past years, the program is dedicated to continued competitiveness and sportsmanship.

Captains for all 4 teams are:  Soulon Hu (Flying Shanghai Noodles), William Wong (Crimson Tide), Joe Ha (Dragon Knights), and Linda Lee (Wildcards).  If you think you've got what it takes to become part of our crew, don't miss this opportunity.  E-mail the captains at tcbajr@yahoo.com and don't miss the boat!

2001 DRAGON BOAT CREWS

Crimson Tide

1999 Season

1999 was an exceptionally good year for the Crimson Tide Dragon Boat team - a crew consisting of TCBA Jr. members of previous years and a few new faces. Our team's goal was to finish in the top 25% of teams in the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival and to continually grow into a perennial competitive team.

Crimson Tide began pool practices not knowing if expectations were too high. We were worried that we would not prove to be the crew we strove to be. Even though our in-boat practices showed we were a good team, we still wanted a watermark for our hard work. That was the Guelph DB races.

That first weekend in June proved to be a great beginning for us. We finished 1ST in the "C" Division, and 13th overall in a field of 68 teams. Our best time of the day placed us 10th in the overall standings of fastest times.

Now off to our next race in Pickering! The races took place during the second weekend of June. Crimson Tide proved itself again by placing in the top half of the pack. We had fun camping out in the backyards of the Pickering locals, got yelled at by residents whose houses we were parking in front of, and had Angela's chicken wings microwaved by an extremely nice lady.

Up until then, all our training and racing had been a prelude to one of the largest and esteemed Dragon Boat race festivals in the world, the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival, held in late June.

With each hearty stroke and the heavy pounding of the waves, we outdid our expectations and paddled our way to the Community Division Championship Race, finishing 5th overall in the standings. That weekend, we left Centre Island with a feeling of euphoria.

The second half of the season included the Montreal races in mid-July and the Stratford in Mid-September. This was the second year TCBA Jr. had entered the Montreal races. Again, a weekend excursion of fun and then sobering up for our Sunday races.

The day before the races at Stratford, some of the crew members traveled into town earlier to catch the critically-acclaimed Stratford Festival's production of West Side Story. A little party was also held for Crimson Tide and Flying Shanghai Noodles that night.

Stratford saw Crimson Tide finish in the top half of the standings. A definite boost for the crew: great weather, a beautiful venue, and wonderful people.

2000 Season

The Year of the Dragon: Crimson Tide is working hard to accomplish more than ever before. We want to gain, not just good results, but a consistent reputation that will be associated with the Crimson Tide name. We hope to exceed our records as we race on in Guelph, Toronto, London, and Stratford. We may also add onto our season the races in Montreal.

The team is ready and, based on our practices, we are confident that we will have a great start to 2000. We'll keep everyone updated on how we do. Hope to see you all out on the water!

Crimson Tide @ Stratford Dragon Boat 2000

TCBA Jr's Crimson Tide team had a very good day in Stratford. For most of us, the last time we raced was in the Toronto Centre Island race back in June.

Our first race of the day was a race to remember. We edged out the Mercedes Benz team (a team that finished in the top six of coporate division in the Toronto Festival) to take our first race and then came in second in the semi-final race to paddle in the Consolation A Final.

We had another fast and exciting race with all four teams within 2 seconds of each other. We came out third in that final and this was good enough to finish 7th overall in the Open division of 56 teams.

Check us out on our website: http://crimsoncrew.com.

Dragon Knights

It's a shark!!! It's a ship! No, it's DRAGON KNIGHTS!!! Yes, this is the team of giants (none weighing less than 120 lbs) that ran across the Great Wall of China and climbed up the Mount Everest and back, and lived to tell the tale. This is the team that drank water from St. Ida Spring (a.k.a. Lake Ontario) and feasted on the blood of Monster Kumasta (a.k.a. Lake Ontario).

"We were trained with chains tied to our arms, iron balls on our backs and black masks (with tiny holes, so we can see the paddler across from us) over our eyes! For the first time ever, we are together on the quest of Dragon Boat Racing."

Dragon Knights' historical first race is going to take place on June 8, 2001 at the Pickering Dragon Boat Race Festival.

"Join the lucky residents at Pickering, may it be that you fly, drive, run, walk, or ..."borrow" your neighbor's bike if you have to.. come out and cheer us on!"

Warning: Do not be deceived by our good looks (Mr. Temptation and First Runner Ms Temptation from TCBAjr's TEAMMATE ISLAND party are both from this team!) We are all really lean mean, focused, determined and powerful paddling machines!!!

Stay tuned for Dragon Knights' photos from our inaugural team race!

Check out our website at: http://dragonknightscrew.com.

The Flying Shanghai Noodles

One of the three TCBA Jr Chapter Dragon Boat team, the "Flying Shanghai Noodles" was formed by Suolon Hu (captain and coach) and had help from Renee Lee (insanity checker) and Edmond Wan (co-captain and coach).  So what's the story behind the name "Flying Shanghai Noodles"?  Well, it was at our routine "family" style Dim Sum after a brutal practice when we decided to come up with a team name.  Names started to "Fly" around, some were serious names and others were more bizarre.  It was determined that we have a name that represents the teams spirit - and that was to be fun and different... So, one person liked the word "Flying" and another liked anything to do with food, well it just so happens that a plate of noodles that we ordered showed up... and the rest was history.

The team was composed of mostly first time paddlers and some experienced paddlers.  The original "Toronto" team came in a respectable 3rd place in their division at the Centre Island race, and came in the top half overall in the Community Division.

We then had more first time paddlers interested in joining the team to go to the Montreal race (since half of the original team was not able to go to (Montreal) - thus the "Montreal" team was formed.  The spirit of the team continued...  We went there with one thing in mind - PARTY!!!  Much of the actual race was a blur to us - I guess it didn't help when the majority of us had a bit of a hangover, including our cox!

Then came the Stratford race.  By this time both the "Toronto" team and the "Montreal" team wanted to go for the race at Stratford.  More paddlers were interested in joining us too!  Both teams had a blast and we even finished respectably... but this time we actually remembered our race (we learned a bit of lesson from Montreal)...

This year the Flying Shanghai Noodles returns with a bit more of a "bite".  We're meaner, we're more serious, and most importantly, we're more fun to be with!  :-)

So look out for us... you can tell by our loud, wild, go-lucky and friendly spirit that makes us stand out above the crowd (I guess with a name like "Flying Shanghai Noodles" it helps)...

FSN in Stratford Dragon Boat 2000

FSN took 1st place in their heat, 4th in the second, and 3rd in the last race - the Consolation C Finals.  (We finished first in the F Division last year).  Overall, we ranked 23 out of the 59 teams in the Open Mixed community.

Wildcards

The newest member of our TCBAjr roster! Watch out for them at the Annual Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival!

Stay tuned for information and pictures of the 2001 team!