What an amazing experience we had in the coming together of a bunch of friends, and fielding the Kesri Dragons team, in a sport in which we were largely clueless, and coming out pretty well!!!

The level of enthusiasm shown by our group members in the formation of the team, and the commitment level displayed in going through the training, and then giving our hearts into the races were all exemplary. We have done other activities as a group before, but nothing compares to moving a dragon boat, with a single purpose. The remarkable memories from this experience will be our ever-lasting reward.

What a journey?
We decided to attempt testing the water on May 3rd. Dhanya, who is willing to jump into all unknown waters was the first one to come on board. Anu and Manish jumped in within seconds of that. And soon we were closing in on the required team roster in record time. Before I got confirmation of a spot, I had a full roster. As soon as I put everybody on the roster, the waivers were done, and the money collected, and deposited. All in record time.

Practice 1 – Getting our toes wet
Our first practice was on 6th of June. Several of us had to make elaborate baby-sitting arrangements to arrive at the Rideau Canoe Club. Once there, people were calm, yet anxious about the unknown. Some of us were anxious about the practice, others had other problems.  You see, JJ Clarke of CTV was there, and doing weather reporting from the canoe club.  This was great, but there was a problem.  Atleast as per Mudita, who had totally forgotten to put on extra make-up for the occasion, and now her face was going to get seen all over the eastern part of central Canada. 

Anyways, once our coach “Marianka” arrived, she took a quick stock of the situation, and determined our level of rookiness as being super high.  The she took a deep breadth, and started to go over the training process from the very basics. This very first practice did bring a sudden change in everybody’s demeanor towards the race, and during the practice, we all felt quite good about ourselves. We even managed to book ourselves an extra practice.  All the details of the race practice, and the strategy required to do well became central points of our discussions.  Our discussions revolved around the same points over and over and over, interspersed with repeated iterations that this is not competitive.   But we had found ourselves a clump of hair, and their wasn’t going to be any end to splitting them. 

Practice 2
Our second practice was on 13th of June. We actually had a full boat for the first, and only time for this practice. We had several fresh faces on the boat. Including Kurien, Aditya, Chandan and Sue. We even managed to time ourselves for the first time, and discovered that we were covering the 500m distance in around 2:53. Not great, but at least we knew were we stood. This BTW was also the Birthday of Alpa. Who inspite of several other commitments, had figured out a way to only show up for the practice, but to also bring some booze along. Non alcoholic of course. But the other teams did not know that as we toasted the happy occasion.

Practice 3
Our third and last practice took place on 18th of June. What a day it was? The forecast was for rain. We were prepared for rain. We got an immense down pour. Sustained over a long period of time. It rained, and we practiced. We practiced, and it rained. Several of us, who are speckoes, and several others of us, who are not, all had trouble seeing. But then, it did make it easier to keep our eyes in our own boat. Arvind, our excellent coxman, as in the guy who makes sure that our boat goes straight, did manage somehow. How? That is a mystery to me. The entire team was so tuned into the practice, that no one complained. I don’t think that we have ever been so drenched in our entire lives as we were in that boat. But no one complained. That gave me significant amount of hope for the future of our team. We finished the practice sessions, as we had started them. In the rain.

Race Day
The Ottawa Dragon Boat festival held at the beautiful Mooney’s Bay Park, is the biggest in North America. There is a race happening every 10 minutes from early morning to the evening. The festival as such is that – a festival. There are a lot of stalls of food and other stuff. There is massive live musical and dance show tent. With over 5000 participants, no wonder, it is quite a happening place. Over 50,000 visitors come to take in the festivities. Our group, and several friends and families were out there in large numbers to provide encouragement to us.

Race 1
Our first race was in the morning at 9:40. This was the first time the team would be leaving the dock without a coach on board. This had the effect of several opinions on how to best utilize the time as we move the boat to the start line. While some tried to focus on technique, others felt that it was time to rest their muscles, so that they could give it their all at the race line. Although how do you arrive at a start line after a 1.4km journey while thoroughly resting is a mystery to me. Anyways, arrive we did at the start line, with pretty much 0 seconds to spare. While at the start line, we were all awaiting instructions as our coach had taught to us. The race officials had some different ideas. They simply got the boats lined up, and off went the starter. All the Kesri’s were caught napping. A mad scramble ensued, and some sembelence of power strokes were attempted to get the boat moving. The gear change to sprint was totally missed. However, we did arrive at a race rhythm in a short while, and managed to keep on driving the boat with strength, all the way to the end line. In a line-up of 8, we were 4th. Not great, but not bad considering a totally botched up start.

Race 2
Our second race was scheduled for 2:50PM. This gave us ample rest time, and analysis time. Several parents used this time to bring their kids to the race venue. Arvind took this time to shuttle home to Mudita, who was preparing to depart for India. Hat’s off to the guy, who did not for a moment mention about any issues with this whole timing thing. I personally would find it immensely difficult to pull this off. Anyways, back to the race venue. There was a fair bit of anxiety once again as we awaited the arrival of all team members for a reporting time of 2:20. We managed to get our team together in the nick of time. During this entire period of anxiety, another bigger challenge had been hurled at the Kesri’s. The loos were being cleared off their collections from the morning, and had resulted in lengthy line ups for all who wished to relieve themselves off their double bulls or grande’s. As soon as we were done reporting in the staging area, our team suddenly vanished into the port-a-potties in the blink of an eye. Important tasks handled, we all arrived to board our boat. As we got in the boat, last minute race strategy session ensued. We were determined to have a good start. Minor details were discussed, and a major collision with another boat avoided.

This time around, we knew what we were doing as we approached the start line. When that starter canon went off, we launched that boat like there was no tomorrow. What a start we took? As the power stroke count of 6 ended, we smoothly made the most beautiful transition to our sprint strokes. As soon as the 15 strokes ended, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and off we went. We were on our way, leading the pack. We kept on growing the lead. In the previous race, I had given the timing reminder with a reach directive. This time around, our entire boat was chanting “reach” in synch. And reach we did. That boat was flying. The level of energy in that boat was amazing. 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, and then…… brakes…. What the….? Yep, a few people in our boat thought that the race was over when we hit the 400m buoy mark, and the boat was checked by a few in the ensuing confusion. By the time the confusion cleared, we had dropped in a big hurry all the way from leading to 4th, once again. Anyways, we scrambled as hard as one can in the last 50m or so. But…… Oh well.

When you are leading, that is the only time when you can mistake the wrong line for the finish line I suppose. In all other instances, you would see boats still going strong.

Anyways, mistakes aside, the Kesri’s had given every ounce of their energy, and then some, to the last race effort. Inspite of our big stop in the race, we managed to improve our time by about 6 seconds over our first race.

This year, all the races ran pretty fast. The cut-off time for Sunday qualification was around 2:23. Without our mistake, we might have come very close to this, as we lost about 20m of distance in a single shot or so. That is around 6 seconds or so. We might have even made it. But, there is hope. As I said previously. We have a lot to learn. And we are quick learners.

Next Steps
People are already resolving to go stronger into the next years race. I already heard a target time of 2:15. And with the level of enthusiasm that we have for this event, I am confident that we will meet or exceed our goal.

Several people have commented about the difficulty in putting our team together. While the challenges have been mine towards this purpose, the satisfaction, and the pride of working with such a remarkable set of people is also mine. And for this reason, I will do it all over again.

In Closing
Dragon boat race is unlike anything else that I or other people of our team had done. It is quite an amazing indicator of our general level of fitness. While going to gym to stay healthy,and loose some required pounds may be the goal of several, to prove your fitness in something tangible such as a 10K, 1/2 or full marathon, or a dragon boat race shows the reality of your fitness.

To all the “Kesri’s” – Chak De.