Hamilton
Co-captains Lorraine Molloy and Fahimeh Bananejad
Wow! What a fabulous venue Hamilton is! Bay Front Park is a beautiful park and Hamilton’s Knot A Breast team were wonderful hosts. In addition, not only did we get three 500-metre races against four other survivor teams, we were also given the opportunity to enter two optional races: a 250-metre and a 2000-metre. Such was the enthusiasm on the team that we voted to go in both of the optional races.
In the three 500-metre races, our times were 2:36.20, 2:35.07, and 2:38.04. In the 250-metre race, our time was 01:18.03, compared to Knot A Breast at 01:12.16.
The 2000-metre race was the highlight of the day, however, and those of us who paddled were thrilled and heartened with the enthusiastic cheering we got from those of us who watched. In the 2000-metre race, Bonnie Howells (at the festival with her other team), Kim Patterson (our loyal fan and teammate), and Robyn Dony (our Steer for the other races) paddled in place of the Hamilton team members who weren’t able to do the 2000-metre. Billy Kot steered (for which we were so grateful, since we hadn’t ever done a 2000-metre race before, not even in practice) and Diane Pounder drummed.
We were the first boat to start in the 2000-metre, and our goal was to finish respectably. However, as we rounded our third turn, we had a new goal and that was not to let anyone pass us. Knot A Breast threatened but we managed to cross the finish line first too – and we were three feet off the ground after that! Only three of the survivor teams had entered this race, and our time of 12:28.2 was better than Rowbust’s time of 12:35.2 although not quite as good as Knot A Breast’s time of 12:02.0. The best time for the race was 11:24.0, so we were only about a little over a minute behind the best time – exceptionally good for a first shot!!
Thanks to Robyn for steering all our other races. Who knew that someone Robyn's size would be so capable of handling those Hamilton Harbour currents?!! And still be able to paddle in the 2000-metre race - three cheers for Robyn!
Thanks to Billy for drumming our three 500-metre races and to Diane Pounder for drumming our optional races.
Special mention to Kara too - her very first Dragon Boat Festival. How special was that?!!!
The whole day was such a team effort, and everyone contributed. Terrific teamwork and spirit!
Jim Van Horne took 149 memorable pictures, and we had many “fans” (friends and family) come to cheer us on which warmed our hearts as always.
Fahimeh is a veteran and I'm a "semi-veteran," and we both thought that our day in Hamilton was extraordinary! Our thanks to everyone who contributed to such an exciting day!
On the team for the day were the following happy people:
Drummer – Billy Kot. Steer – Robyn Dony. Pacers were Julie DeCorneille, Laurel Topping, Diane Joyce, Lorraine Molloy, Vicki Goldson, and Nikki Hulin. In the Engine Room were Fahimeh Bananejad, Diane Pounder, Yasmin Aladdin, Lori Preston-Memme, Phyllis Brown, Audrey Marks, Liz Van Horne, Ann Schneller, Cathy Darrah-Brioux, and Barbara Borovicka. Rockets were Eleanor Senick, Louise Menezes, Kara Peseski, Bev Cathro, Wilma Jackson, and Jennie Michals.
Those who didn’t do the 2000-metre race this year are determined to do it next year – and we know they will!!
Windsor
Co-captains Valerie Swiatoschik and Lorraine Molloy and Manager Fahimeh Bananejad
Windsor is a unique venue in a number of ways. Only survivor teams race on the Saturday of the festival, so there is a good turnout of survivor teams, and this year there were twelve teams from as far away as California and Louisiana. Windsor also hosts a lovely Awards Banquet and Dance on the Saturday evening which features great food, good music, and, of course, lively dancing and conversation. In addition, proceeds from the race are divided among the teams to give to their favourite charity; we brought back a cheque for $1700 for Willow.
Our Dragons Abreast team had very little time to practise together (because seven of us were on the Hamilton boat which paddled the previous weekend), yet we achieved some pretty amazing results!
For the two morning races, our average time of 02:36:96 was second best out of the twelve teams, with Knot A Breast coming in first at 02:34:49. That put us in the A Division for the finals.
In the final race, our time of 02:40:95 put us in fifth place out of the twelve teams -- ahead of our archrival Knot A Breast (02:41:00) - how good was that?!!!
Our average time for the three races was 02:38:29 which put us in third place overall, behind Knot A Breast with an average of 02:36:73 and Windsor Wonder Broads with an average of 02:37:69. Very, very nice.
If those times seem a little high, the reason is that we paddled in the 24-seater teak dragon boats which are very heavy compared to our boats at Sunnyside.
Not only did we paddle well in Windsor, we were, without a doubt, the best partiers! Around 11 p.m. on Saturday night, there were only about 20 people still dancing, of which 11 were Dragons Abreast team members. Yes, we have the best recovery times and staying power!!
What is really good about an away race though is the opportunity to get to know our teammates better. To those of you who haven’t been away overnight with the team yet, we really recommend it.
Special thanks to Billy Kot for pulling us together in the boat so quickly - how does he do it?!! Valerie handled getting most of the team together, and she got all the Windsor details for us before her chemo started, which was a huge help - so sorry she couldn't come with us to Windsor. Linda Dias was amazing as our drummer, and Anne Melmer kept the boat on course while still cheering us on. Fahimeh Bananejad was great at handling the details; Kim Patterson pitched in and took charge when I was on the Hamilton boat; Tom was a terrific water-man; Dick really helped by getting our times. We had several fans turn up to cheer us on, including Margaret MacLean-Wade. And no-one asked me to put them in a different seat! Great teamwork everyone!
The team consisted of the following people:
Original Captain - Valerie Swiatoschik. Drummer – Linda Dias. Steer – Anne Melmer. Pacers – Karen Cannon, Judith Lang, Diane Joyce, Heather Carter, Carleen Simpson, and Laurel Topping. In the Engine Room were Fahimeh Bananejad (Manager)in, Jane Cramer, Marina Silverio, Yasmin Aladdin, Mary Richards, Kim Patterson, and Barbara Borovicka. Rockets were Eleanor Senick, Lorraine Molloy (Co-captain), Wilma Jackson, Dana Segen, Antoinette Simone, and Leslie Seaborn.
Welland
 |
