The winning paddlersUpdate: And the winner is...!
Arashi, in a time of 1:53.40, won the grand prize in the top-rated Diamond division.
Arashi (are-a-she) is Japanese for 'storm.' As members of the Racine Dragon Boat Club, they are a self sponsored, traveling team, also competing this year in Tampa, Lake Superior and Oshkosh. They start the season paddling in the pool in January and move to the boats May through October. The team receives financial support from Bultman Financial of Milwaukee.
Here are the final championship division results, presented by Rotary West's Chris Flynn, right, this year's Dragon Boat Festival chairman:
Also, winners of the T-shirt contest are:Diamond Division
1st: Arashi, 1:53.40
2nd: Angelfish, 1:55.43
3rd: Spring Dental Dragon Breath, 1:57.66
4th: Bucky's Concrete Crew, 2:01.55
Pearl Division
1st: Johnson Bank Vikings, 2:08.05
2nd: Nauti Crew, 2:13.81
3rd: City Slickers, 2:16.55
4th: Founders Strokers, 2:20.43
Jade Division
1st: Smile Makers, 1:58.84
2nd:Water Warriors, 1:59.76
3rd: Slippery When Wet, 2:04.03
1st: Kenosha Row-tariansOriginal post:
2nd: Team RFD (Racine Fire Dept.)
Special mention: The Pirate team, the Pale Ale Paddlers
A photo finish marked this raceThe Great Midwest Dragon Boat Festival began on schedule this morning -- races started at 8 a.m. -- despite the thunderstorms that hit Racine during the night. Rotary race officials admitted to some worrisome moments at 4 and 5 a.m., as the worst of the storm brought driving rain -- but by 7 a.m. or so the skies cleared, the sun came out and it turned into a great day for dragon boat racing.
The championship race is scheduled for 5 p.m. today.
The championship race is scheduled for 5 p.m. today.
Pink Paddling Power team splashes to dry land through an honorary oar arch
Team members check the results board
JT photographer Scott Anderson grabs a great (and cool) vantage point
These are the kind of news stories I like, not the other garbage! Pete and Dustin, maybe you should try to remain more positive, life it too short to dwell on the negative.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete'Competitor'...bawahhhaaaaahaaaa!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rotary for a FANTASTIC Family Event on the Lake - It is these type of events that make Racine a Great place to live!
ReplyDeletePatrick Flynn
Flynnigan's Wake
I look forward to this all year long and cannot wait til next year already! Thanks Racine Rotary, Chris Flynn, Captain Kitty, fellow Pale Ale Paddlers and everyone who makes this event so amazingly smooth and most of all FUN! Events like this TRULY highlight Racine's community efforts and sportsmanship- BUT Pirates WILL rule next year- I'm warnin ye now...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Rotarians for bringing this sport to Racine. It is a great community event which brings out people all over the city!
ReplyDeleteThank you Rotary Clubs of Racine!
ReplyDeletethe community hopes thAt you will bring the event back next year.
ARASHI is not sponsored by AURORA,nor employed by them.ARASHI is a self sponsored team consisting members of the Racine Dragon Boat Club.
thank you for the write up about the article.better written versus the journal.journalist(?)must not be a sportsman.
we are financially helped by BULTMAN FINANCIAL of MILWAUKEE.
ReplyDeleteany companies out there willing to help us?
Ronin: Thanks for the clarification on Arashi's sponsorship. I've changed our article to reflect your information.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone, for your kind comments. But even more - thanks for your participation in the Dragon Boat Race and Festival. It wouldn't be anything without the teams and the team captains. Your wonderful energy, efforts, and enthusiasm are what make it fun. Thanks too to the many, many people who pitched in to help us stage the sixth annual Great Midwest Dragon Boat Festival. Congratulations to the winners - and to every single person who walked into Lake Michigan, climbed into a dragon boat and paddled out and then furiously back to shore!
ReplyDeleteThe Racine Journal had a much better aticle than this. This team that won could be considered professional as they practice almost year round. The real story is that St. Catherine's High School.Aluni team was going for a three peat They have won the entire event 2 years in a row). Organized by a student - they lost in the final heat against this team by 2 hunderds of a second.
ReplyDeleteohh.another sore loser.are you related to journalist of the racine paper?you ever looked at the age of the winning team 28-65!,and number of male paddlers?7!!
ReplyDeletedid'nt arashi beat angelfish by over 2 secs?not 200 of a sec?
ReplyDeleteMy error - it was 300 of a second.
ReplyDelete1st: Arashi, 1:53.40
2nd: Angelfish, 1:55.43
Anon 10:32: No, it was over two seconds.
ReplyDelete1 minute, 53 seconds, 40 hundreths, vs.
1 minute, 55 seconds, 43 hundreths.
I stand corrected - but I still say the JT's article was a much better story.
ReplyDeleteWhile this event is worthwhile and does not screw up the county the same cannot be said for next Sunday's triathalon. First off I am a bike rider myself. That said, what idiot thinks it's OK to tie up just about every road and cop in Racine county for the better part of the day? Who's paying for that? Who's paying for all the inconvienience to the residents? Just Bull***t
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:23 - it a great event - suck it up for one day.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit unfair because the Dragon Boat club practices from January to July. The rest of the teams are given 2 practices. That is a pretty big advantage. Congrats to them but it needs to be fair.
ReplyDeleteThe Racone Dragon Boat Club is open to any who wish to join. Members Paddle and train to whatever extent they want to become involved. I encourage everyone thinking they'd like the "advantage" club teams have to join. Plenty of room on existing teams and yes, you can travel to compete in other events.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:53 - that is true, anyone can join, but at the same time you should not be competing against teams that have 2 practices before the event. Take your talents elsewhwere. You should be ashamed of accepting 1st place in this event. Especially when you only one it by a couple seconds with multiple practices.
ReplyDeletewon - that is!
ReplyDeleteDragon boats are great--in their country of origin. Over in China, they're part of the local culture. Here they're just another yuppie toy we really don't need in a town with a 17% unemployment rate and poverty galore.If Rotary wants to do something constructive, it can cut checks to the Food Bank or HALO.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:25: Rotary does cut checks to many local organizations, and does lots of good in the community (Post Prom, international exchange students, to name just two!).
ReplyDeleteIt raises some of that money through events like the Dragon Boat Festival.
(Full disclosure: I'm a member of the Downtown Racine Rotary Club. Racine, by the way, is the birthplace of Paul P. Harris, founder of Rotary International.)