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The three-and-a-half-year-old team made national history by winning four out of the possible five Gold medals in the main events on 23 November 2008. This makes RP dragon boat team the quadruple champion in this year’s race. The annual event held at the Singapore River is witnessed by thousands dragon boat enthusiasts.
Republic Polytechnic Dragon Boat team at Singapore River Regatta 2008
The dragon boat team brought home four gold medals in Men and Mixed National Championship, Men and Women Tertiary. It was the most grueling race they have ever competed in, but through their determination, strength, courage, strong will-power, they once again prove that the team is capable of rising above the stronger teams.
The team could have won the Women National Championship. Despite a convincing lead over the other teams in the preliminary heats, the women’s team finished in the wrong lane and was disqualified.
This year, RP sent four teams to compete in five events – the men’s team A and B, women’s team, and a mixed team.
The sixty-member team faced tough competition in the preliminary heats with stronger and renowned teams. Throughout the preliminary and semi-final races, the team managed to achieve a second or better placing to qualify for the semi-finals on the first day.
The team has made a name in the Singapore River Regatta history as the only team to win four gold medals in its 26 years. They have broken previous timing records that were held by established teams too.
Republic Polytechnic Dragon Boat men's team paddled to finishing line first (Boat 2)
We have to applaud the young men’s team B. With only 7 months of training, junior team which comprises of mainly year-one students secured placement in the minor finals by coming in second in the semi-finals; they lost out to Singapore Management University (SMU) and clocked the third best timing (1 min 24.49 seconds) in this year’s Singapore River Regatta. However, in the minor finals they met experienced Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), and an alumni team from National Junior College (NJC). They gave their all. Team B eventually came in fourth in the minor finals. Regardless of what position, it was a very commendable effort for Team B as they had proved their worth to rival against the senior teams from institutes. Given more time and exposure, this team will be stronger.
It will be the final race for the year-three paddlers and the head coach, Steve Chan (middle), with RP Dragon Boat IG.
Despite the women’s team failure to qualify for the opens category, they were the undisputed winner in the Tertiary category against the same opponents. The women’s team comprises of many first year students beat last year’s tertiary champion, National University of Singapore (NUS), to be the new Tertiary women’s champion.
The ferocity displayed by the women’s team boosted the men to work even harder. The bad weather brought heavily rain to the event. This pushed the men’s team further in the Tertiary Finals to win their first Regatta gold medal. They rose above their physical and mental threshold to snatch first placing with just a Dragon’s nose apart from Singapore Polytechnic (SP). It was a very emotional victory for the final year rowers and will be their last time competing in this race. They are proud to have won the first gold in Regatta’s tertiary event. These victories inspired them and heightened their confidence in the last two events. Their morale as a team increases.
The women's team came in first for Tertiary category.
The mixed finals begun shortly after both men’s and women’s Tertiary Finals. With minimal rest between the events, the strongest paddlers from both the men’s and women’s team gathered and pushed their limit as they faced the strongest teams. As last year’s champion, the team has to defend title. The umpire blasted the horn to signify the start, boats leapt forward. The team placed every stroke with maximum power to maintain convincing lead from start to finish. They defended their title and clinched another gold medal!
The long awaited event, Men’s National Championship finals, commenced shortly after an hour. All spectators kept their eyes peeled on what might be the toughest and closest race they have ever seen! When the race commenced, every team paddled with great intensity to the finishing point. At the 200 meters mark, RP was trailing behind SP, which took an early lead. Refusing to believe that they were losing the battle, the team turned the situation around. Combining aggression, determination and hunger into pure adrenaline, the team pushed beyond their limits. With only 50 meters left, the team pulled in unison to win SP by a mere margin of 0.01 seconds to turn what seemed like a losing battle into a victory!
It has been a fantastic 2008 for RP Dragon Boat team. With improvements and achievements in such a short period coupled with changes internally, the team has come far. New teamwork is fostered. By putting aside their differences and coming together as one, the team has grown mature. The team will definitely push themselves further next year.
The senior team have learned a lot from the junior team. Their willingness to push themselves further spurred the seniors to work even harder.
The 26th Singapore River Regatta will be memorable for the final year students because it will be their last time competing with the Republic Polytechnic Dragon Boat team. The gold medals won at this Regatta have definitely made their last race memorable with such splendid victory!
The team would like to thank and congratulate their coaches - Steve Chan and See Jing Dian. Without their guidance, effort and time spent on this team, Republic Polytechnic Dragon Boat team will not have achieved such good performance. This also marks the end of our journey with Head Coach, Steve Chan, as he moves on
to coach the Singapore National Women’s team.
“Today we seek for continuous success and glory, because today’s success may not equate to tomorrow’s glory.”
Republic Polytechnic Dragon Boat Interest Group (IG) apparels are sponsored by NewUrbanMale.
The company also co-sponsored an overseas competition trip in 2008.
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