Club de bateau dragon de
Verdun
Dragon Boat Club

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Lachine 250m Knockout Challenge 2004

Team Express warming up

Wow, what a great Saturday morning it was... Bright sunny skies, beautiful site and snazzy new team shirts! It seems that the day was pegged as a good one, right from the start.

The Lachine Knockout Festival would see Team Adrenaline and Team Express in action at the same competition for the first time ever. And what a sight it was: 40 team members in blue and white, making their mark both in and out of the water.

Qualification Heats

Team Express was the first Verdun DBC crew to hit the waters. With many first-time racers amongst them, these paddlers wanted to show that they have what it takes to compete with the veteran crews. With a time of 56.686 seconds, they had everyone's attention by winning their qualification heat against the Alliance, Draco Longueuil and the Wongs' Chargers.

Next up, Team Adrenaline. Even with Pickering behind them, there were still first race jitters going about. A complete crew, a shorter race distance and a hometown crowd made for a totally different racing environment. Not to mention the competition they were up against in this first heat: Wongs' Dragonslayers, Action Sport and ETS Phoenix. In the end, the jitters were left at the dock and they paddled their way to a time of 54.962 seconds, for a third place finish in this race.

With these qualifying times, Express placed in 8th (ahead of Wongs' Immortals by 0.09 seconds) and Adrenaline ranked 4th (behind the Slayers, Action Sport and Mayfair). Both crews made the cut for the "Elite" Division.

The next set of races would determine the division in which the teams would continue in. In each quarter-final, the top-2 finshers would advance to the A/B semi-finals while the remaining 2 would go on to the C/D semi-finals.

"Elite" Division Quarter-Finals

As luck (or skill) would have it, Team Express was joined by the first and second Wongs' teams, the Slayers and the Immortals, in their quarter-final. Racing next to the favourites and pushing themselves hard, the Express crew shaved almost three-quarters of a second from their previous time to finish 3rd in 55.923 seconds and advance to the C/D semi-finals.

Half an hour later, Team Adrenaline would capture a spot in the A/B semi-finals by finishing second in their quarter-final, with a time of 55.211 seconds.

On to the semi-finals, where Express would want to advance to the C Final and fight for an overall top-10 finish and Adrenaline would vie for a spot in the A Final.

"Elite" Division Semi-Finals

Again, the same format applied where the top-2 finishers advance to the either the A or C "Elite" Division Final. Both crews knew that the gap between teams in each race was now getting smaller and smaller. There was no room for mistakes.

After a well-deserved lunch break, for both race organizers and race participants alike, Team Express was refuelled and ready to join the Asian Dragons, Draco Longueuil and the Alliance at the start line of race 25. Down the 210m race course they went and with a photo-finish at the line, Express edged out the surging Asian Dragons by 0.01 second to capture 2nd place and a spot in the C Final.

Team Adrenaline had an extra hour to rest and enjoy the weather before lining up for their semi-final race. In the outside lane, the Verdun crew lead most of the way, but couldn't keep the neighbouring Mayfair Predators at bay. In the end, just over a third of a second separated the two teams and both advanced to the A Final.

Nearing the end of competition, paddlers and spectators were looking forward to the Knock-Out Finals. Exciting to watch; nerve-wracking to race.

"Elite" Division Knock-Out Finals

The "Elite" C Knock-Out Final pitted four teams that had been racing head-to-head with each other all day. This was the showdown to determine who would get the bragging rights at the end of the festival. With the elimination of the Durham Razorbacks in the first race, the second round featured the Alliance, Action Sport and Verdun's Express. Although Action Sport would cross the finish line first, a 3-second penalty was assessed to the team for leaving their lane, which meant that the ultimate race would be fought between the Alliance and Express. With a great start and a steady show of strength throughout the race, the Express kicked it up a notch near the finish to beat the Alliance by more than one and half seconds, winning the C Final.

And now, the last race of the day: the "Elite" A Final. Team Adrenaline would face an extremely competitive field with the Slayers, the X-Pads and Mayfair. And the finish of the first race showed it: the X-Pads just narrowly bumped off Adrenaline by 0.16 second and thus ranking them 4th overall. In the end, the Slayers would claim the #1 spot, followed by the X-Pads and Mayfair.

So, great results for the club in Lachine: top-10 finishes for both teams and an excellent show of team performance and team spirit. Congratulations to all!

Also, a special cheer for the Montreal Elite Women and the Lachine Machine men for their respective champion titles.

Big thanks to the Matts for organizing the whole show and congrats for its success. And to Matt, thanks for being there for almost all our races even while you were busy running around keeping things under control.

Let's not forget to thank Richard, Denise, Katherine and Caroline for the great work they did to provide us with the nice race shirts!

Keep up the good work guys and let's focus on Ottawa and Montreal!

Complete Results on 22 Dragons website

Verdun DBC Race Reports

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