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Dragon Boat Team

Nepean Masters Swim Club

Dragonboat Scrapbook

Version 3- June 2007

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In 1998, 25 intrepid swimmers from Nepean Masters Swim Club moved into another aquatic pursuit and entered a team in the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival in the mixed team competition (minimum 8 paddlers from the opposite sex). In 1999, NMSC began sponsoring the Breast Cancer Trophy awarded to the fastest team of breast cancer survivors. Also in 1999, NMSC entered a second team. In 2000, the second team became a ladies only team and competed for three years under the auspices of NMSC before finding a sponsor and paddling under another name.

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival is part of a larger Chinese cultural tradition that goes back 2,400 years. It began on the life-sustaining riverbanks in the valleys of southern China as a fertility rite performed to ensure bountiful crops. The first participants held their celebration on the fifth day of the lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The race was held to avert misfortune and encourage the rains needed for prosperity. The object of their worship was the dragon.

Also known as Poet's Day, it commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a poet and Minister of State during the Chou Dynasty. Qu had protested against the corrupt government and was stripped of his office as Minister of State. He wandered about the countryside, unhappy and dejected. When local fishermen realized Qu had disappeared into the river, they raced out in their boats to save him, beating drums to scare off the fish that they thought would eat his body. They also dropped rice dumplings in the water as a sacrifice to his spirit. The scene of the fishermen racing out to save Qu Yuan is re-enacted every year in the form of dragon boat races.

Dragonboat racing has become very popular around the world. Many countries participate at world championships including the Madawaska Hardwoods (Events Alive) team from the Rideau Canoe Club in Ottawa, the best mixed team in Canada. In Ontario alone, there are about twelve dragonboat festivals during the summer.

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival began in 1993 with the assistance of the Hong Kong Canada Business Association. The first event only lasted half a day as there were only 25 teams participating. This little known sport eventually grew to be one of the hottest sporting events in the Nation's Capital and around the world.

By 2001, the sport – which once featured only 25 teams – had 168 teams participating in both corporate and community categories over two days, making the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival the second largest festival in Canada.

In 1998 a charitable component was added to the festival. Since the festival brings together people from around our great community (and country), it was decided that we should do as much as possible to give back to the community. So in 1998, the "Pledge Challenge" was instituted. In 2007, $250,000 was raised.

The 190 teams in 2007 made the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival the largest in North America.

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Results Summary - 1998 to 2007

Year Race Times Place 2007 Sat. Race 1

Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Race 4

2:21.5 2:22.1 2:14.6 2:16.9 1:59.0

Headwind 32nd place after first day 27th place 190 teams! 7th in ‘D’ Final, broken paddle at start Events Alive

2006 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Race 4

2:11.3 2:16.3 2:12.8 2:08.8 1:55.3

17th after first day 8th in Petite Finale, broken paddle on start Canadian Senior Mixed Team

2005 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Final

2:10.5 2:10.21 2:05.15 2:06.74 1:54.20

Qualified for the Championship round Last in heat, 9th best time over two days Events Alive BUK boats

2004 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Final

2:27.19 2:25.5 2:27.5 DQ 2:09.6

Lost Nancy, broken steering arm Events Alive

2003 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Final

2:36.7 2:27.9 2:27.7 2:22.4 2:04.0

3rd in Petite Finale, 9th best time in the final, 180 teams Events Alive

2002 Sat. Race 1 Sun. Race 2 Sun. Race 3

2:22.51 2:22.5 DQ

19th out of 164 teams Disqualified for finishing out of our lane

2001 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Race 4 Sun. Final

2:32.8 2:33.5 2:37.0 2:24.1 2:27.2 2:06.2

13th place on Saturday 27th 15th 4th in Petite Finale, 12th best time in the finals Madawaska Hardwoods

2000 Sat. Race 1 Sat. Race 2 Sun. Race 3 Sun. Final

2:20.7 2:20.02 2:24.10 2:29.2 2:10.9

10th 6th in Championship Final Note: Saturdays time would have meant 4th! Madawaska Hardwoods

1999 Sat. Race 1 Sun. Race 2 Sun. Final

2:32.9 2:31.6 2:20.3

4th after Day 1 – 130 teams 3rd overall, missed second place by 1.5 seconds Madawaska Hardwoods

1998 Sat. Race 1 Sun. Final

2:32.9 2:33.9 2:13.2

8th overall in our first year Madawaska Hardwoods

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2007- Our 10th Anniversary

We faced strong headwinds on Saturday and had poor starts as a result. We rebounded on Sunday and took 7 seconds off our time.

Back: Doug Pye, Josh Swedlove, Carol Usher, Chris Bradley, Mike Sweny, Brian Robertson, J-P Martel, Shelley Demkew, Malcolm Brown, John Burrows, Chris Woodcock, Dave Duschene, Micheline Turnau, Brian Wolfe, Mike Carew. Front: Carla St. Germain, Tina Nadeau, Debbie Hughes, Anne Loucks, Nata Belair-Jones, Melanie Brown, Cynthia Walker. Missing Don Clinton. Where is Carolyn??

On May 31, we lost our good friend Doug Petty. Doug had been an NMSC swimmer for many years and was an NMSC Dragon Boater ever since we first took to the water in 1998. His gentle strength, calm and good nature will be greatly missed.

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Brian and Saskia on the “Mount”.

Louise Desjardins presenting the NMSC Breast Cancer Survivor Cup to the Nova Scotia team.

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Seven paddlers from Year 1: Chris Woodcock, Don Clinton, Mike Sweny, John Burrows, Chris Bradley, Cynthia Walker, Debbie Hughes with our past race shirts as a backdrop.

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2006 – 9th Year We had our best times ever.

Back: Doug Pye, Ed Odecki, John Burrows, Nancy Parkhill, Mike Sweny, Don Clinton, Doug Petty, Chris Woodcock,

Josh Swedlove, Derek Parker Middle: Chris Bradley, J-P Martel, Tina Nadeau, Anne Loucks, Carol Usher, Natalie Belair-Jones, Melanie Brown, Carolyn

Odecki Sitting: Debbie Hughes, Cynthia Walker, Shelley Demkew.

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2005 – Year 8 – The first year for the faster boats We made the final. The new paddlers were Doug Pye, Tina Nadeau, Derek Parker and Shelly Demkew. Melanie Brown was the caller and Carolyn Odecki the Steerer. We won the Over 40 Cup.

Front, front: Melanie Brown Front: Cynthia Walker, Tina Nadeau, Carol Usher, Shelly Demkew, Margie Bermel, Debbie Hughes, Ed Odecki, Carolyn Odecki Back: Jean-Pierre Martel, Mike Sweny, Chris Bradley, Rebecca Tombs, Josh Sswedlove, John Burrows, Nancy Parkhill, Chris Woodcock, Don Clinton, Malcolm Brown, Doug Petty, Doug Pye, Derek Parker.

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Race No.: 73 Championship Final Sunday, 02:40 PM

Lane Team Name Time 4 Events Alive 1:54.78 3 Wong`s Dragon Slayers 1:56.35 5 Canadian Senior Dragonboat Club - Mixed 1:58.35 6 SCC Team Chiropractic 1:59.00 2 Verdun DBC - Adrenaline 2:01.11 1 Nortel Bytown Paddlers 2:05.06 7 Wong`s Immortal Dragons 2:06.21

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8 Nepean Masters 2:06.74 Note: Morning qualifying race was a personal best of 2:05.15

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2004 – Year 7 The new paddlers were Malcolm Brown, Nancy Parkhill. Graham Devine, Josh Swedlove, and J-P Martel. Peggy Slavin was the caller and Nancy Binnie was the Steerer. Marta from Spain was the spare. We made the final but were DQ’ed after Nancy fell overboard due to a broken steering arm. We won the Education Cup.

Front: Cynthia Walker, Marta from Spain, Debbie Hughes, Danielle Lee, Peggy Slavin, Rebecca Tombs, Carolyn Odecki.

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Back: John Burrows, Graham Devine, Chris Bradley, Josh Swedlove, Chris Woodcock, Trent Peden, Mike Sweny, J-P Martel, Doug Petty, Ed Odecki, Margie Bermel, Don Clinton, Nancy Binnie, Malcolm Brown and Nancy Parkhill. Missing: Carol Usher

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2003 – Year 6 This was the second year for the festival to be held on the new course.

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Front: Carolyn Odecki, Margie Bermel, Debbie Hughes, Pat Ferguson, Cynthia Walker, Carol Usher Middle: Daniel Lee, Rebecca Tombs, Doug Petty, Mike Sweny, Chris Bradley, Nancy Binnie, Chris Woodcock, John Burrows Back: David Thibodeau, Jeff Threader, Daniel Cation, Rick , Ed Odecki, Malcolm Brown, Eric Thompson, Trent Peden, Don Clinton

1 Events Alive Championship Final 2:03.59 2 Gibson & MacLaren / Party World Bytown

Paddlers Championship Final 2:10.05

3 Cascade Club Championship Final 2:10.28 4 Pionniers de Verdun Championship Final 2:10.81 5 Asian Dragons Championship Final 2:16.51 6 Wong Wing Foods Alliance 1st Petite Finale 2:16.93 7 Immortal Dragons Championship Final 2:18.46 8 Axis Gear 2nd Petite Finale 2:21.08 9 Nepean Masters 3rd Petite Finale 2:22.38 10 Coughlin & Associates Paddle Demons Championship Final 2:22.82 11 Human Kinetics Petite Finale 2:22.98 12 PanaCEAA Petite Finale 2:23.22 13 Stout Strokers Petite Finale 2:23.80 14 Montreal Thunder Petite Finale 2:27.65 15 EMS Technologies "Smoke on the Water" Championship Final 2:27.73 16 ESI Dragon Drops Petite Finale 2:34.84

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2002 – Year 5 This was the first year the festival took place on the east side of Mooneys Bay, away from the Rideau Canoe Club. At every stage in an athlete’s or team’s rise to stardom, there comes a sobering time to reconsider, reorganize and regroup. NMSC was one of the top 60 boats to make it to Day 2. At 3:00 pm on Sunday, we were stroking our way to a win in our heat and mistook the location f the finish line. The result was we still finished first in the heat, but finished out of our lane and were disqualified. As it turned out, only one or two more races took place and then a severe thunderstorm closed the festival.

Back: Dave Thibodeau, Steele, Ed Odecki, Doug Petty, Jerome Menton, Don Clinton, Chris Bradley, John Burrows, Cynthia Walker, XX Front: Sue Ballantyne, Daniel Lee, Mike Sweny, Caroline Odecki, Louise Lorrain, Greg Watt, Margie Bermel, Coleen Morris, Pat Ferguson, Carol Usher.

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2001 – Year 4

1 Madawaska Dragons Championship Final 2:06.20

2 Passport Paddlers Championship Final 2:14.92

3 Gibson & Associates/Gilmore - Actus Championship Final 2:18.08

4 Action Sport Physio Championship Final 2:18.58

5 Rising Dragons Inc. Championship Final 2:19.16

6 Montreal Rammin' Dragons Championship Final 2:19.56

7 Onake Team Spirit Championship Final 2:23.34

8 Mississauga Bladewarriors Championship Final 2:25.60

9 Coughlin & Associates Paddle Demons Petite Final 2:26.24

10 Catch 22 Petite Final 2:26.62

11 Thunder Dragons Petite Final 2:26.72

12 The Masters Petite Final 2:27.16

13 PanaCEAA Petite Final 2:28.15

14 EMS "Smoke on the Water" Petite Final 2:28.69

15 Les Pionniers de Verdun Petite Final 2:29.81

16 Fleet Of Foote Petite Final 2:30.74

This is not a lumberjack camp or a prison picture. Don Clinton, Paul and Mark Goodwin await the award presentation.

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2001 Team Photo – Rideau Canoe Club – (Some are wearing the coolee hats Carolyn bought)

Front: Sue Ballantyne, Margie Bermel, Debbie Hughes, Cynthia Walker, John Burrows, Carolyn Odecki, Sue XX, Shannon Willies

Middle: Catherine Lorrain, Patty Petty, Nancy Binnie, Louise Lorrain, Mike Sweny, Carol Usher, Chris Bradley,

Back: Paul, Doug Petty, Greg Watt, Mark Goodwin, Don Clinton, Ed Odecki, Ann Evans

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2000 – Year 3

1 Madawaska Sprinters Championship Final 2:10.93

2 Cascades Canoe Club Championship Final 2:16.07

3 Nortel Networks – Passport Paddlers Championship Final 2:19.58

4 Dragons of Steel Championship Final 2:24.05

5 Gibson & Associates/Gilmore Actus Reus Championship Final 2:27.09

6 Nepean Masters Swim Club ‘A’ Team Championship Final 2:29.17

7 The Rising Dragons Inc. Championship Final 2:30.13

8 EMS Technologies – Smoke on the Championship Final 2:32.23

9 G Force Dra”GG”ons Petite Final 2:32.61

10 Onake Team Spirit Petite Final 2:32.85

11 Rogers AT&T Wireless Warriors Petite Final 2:33.05

12 Mississauga Bladewarriors Petite Final 2:33.12

13 Hydraphobia Petite Final 2:33.58

14 Denny’s Big Guns Petite Final 2:35.30

15 Fleet of Foote Petite Final 2:35.74

16 Crime Waves Petite Final 2:35.81

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1999 – Year 2

TECO World 100m Sprints

Rank Team Name Time

1 Madawaska Hardwood Flooring Sprinters 00:25.91

2 Halifax Dragon Boat Team 00:26.23

3 Cascades Canoe Club 00:29.77

4 Gibson & Augustine/Canada Trust – Actus Reus 00:30.07

5 Wong Wun Sun Association Dragon Slayers 00:30.18

6 Newbridge Networks Dragon Flys 00:30.33

7 Nepean Masters Swim Club 1 00:30.67

8 Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency – PanaCEAA 00:33.21

9 G & G Electronics G-Force Dragons 99:99.99

10 YMCA Dragon Boat Team 99:99.99

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First Kingston Dragonboat Festival

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Don Clinton, then NMSC President, getting ready to present the NMSC sponsored breast cancer survivor trophy for the first time.

Championship Final

Rank Team Name Time

1 Madawaska Hardwood Flooring Sprinters 02:20.29

2 Cascades Canoe Club 02:29.35

3 Nepean Masters Swim Club 1 02:31.58

4 G & G Electronics G-Force Dragons 02:32.32

5 Dragons of Steel 02:35.28

6 Friends in Sportfishing – Community Counts III 02:36.30

7 Gibson & Augustine/Canada Trust – Actus Reus 02:37.88

8 Systems Interface Fleet of Foote 02:39.20

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1998 – Year 1 In was hot and steamy in the men’s shower room at the Wally Baker pool on a cold January night in 1998. “So, what is a dragonboat? Do you think we could scrape together a team? It can’t be any harder than swimming butterfly.” And so it was that the Nepean Masters Swim Team branched into another area of aquatics. There were three practices before the festival so we combined some swimming fitness with a bit of timing and technique. There were two sets of non-matching T-shirts but everyone was happy because the said Speedo on the back. To our great surprise and delight, we won a trophy and NMSC was hooked.

Front (L to R): Margie Bermel, Debbie Hughes, Kadie Baker, Louise Lorrain, Karem Amundred Second: Jerome Menton, Don Clinton, John Burrows, Pat Ferguson, Doug Petie, Peter Shearing, Sharon Flack Back: Kevin Ferguson, Sue Ballantyne, Esther Mackinley, Charlie Colpitts, Chris Bradley, Jaci Kerr, Mike Sweny, Dave Anderson, Gyula Gergely

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Into every festival a little rain must fall.

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Two weeks after the festival weekend, the festival organizers asked the NMSC dragon boat team (The Masters) to travel to Stratford Ontario to represent Ottawa, with our entry fee of $600 paid by the festival. NMSC cobbled together another team and headed off to Stratford (some of the men still talk about staying in the nurses dorm in Stratford).

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Miscellaneous Photos

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Tersh Doe, our intrepid steersman, in 1999

Front end, 1999, John Burrows.

ATTENTION, please.

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Ugh, a big Russian headache after that one! (Dmitri)

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Technique The Boats

• Length : 12.49 m (41 ft.) excluding dragon head and tail) • Width : 1.15 m (3.8 ft.) • Weight : 250 kg. (550 lbs • Material hull : fibreglass • Material gangway : sandwich fibreglass/9 mm. multiplex laminated wood • Material head/tail : fibreglass/wood • Material woodwork (incl. decks) • Paintwork : 4 layers of 2-component yachtlaquer • Colours : several colours possible

Technique (http://dragonboats.tripod.com/pages/db_paddling_technique.htm) Before the stroke: "Paddles Up" position (reach and rotation) Twist torso to show your back to the shore. Reach forward! The blade should be beside the thigh of the paddler in front of you. Keep inside hand high, at least as high as your forehead. Prepare for "leg drive", where you securely prop one or both feet against a bench or footrest.

1a. The "Catch" or "Entry"

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Reach forward and drive the top arm down, while the blade is as far forward as possible without losing timing. Some coaches may encourage spinal lean to lengthen the pull segment. The paddle appears almost vertical when viewed from the front of the boat, but appears 45 degrees from horizontal when viewed from the shore.

1b. "Bury the paddle"

"Bury" the paddle as deep as your fitness and timing will allow: Ideally your lower hand touches the water. Keep the paddle blade perpendicular to the keel of the boat at all times.

If you increase paddling rate, then you will have to decrease the paddle depth to maintain timing. Ask your coach about this.

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2. Pull/Draw: "Moving Water!" (aka compression phase)

This motion is very short... the lower hand only travels 12 to 14 inches backwards until it reaches the paddler's knee.

The muscles involved: lower back, obliques, lats, inside arm tricep and some outside arm bicep.

You "un-twist" your upper body (your shoulders become perpendicular to the boat for an instant), and simultaneously sit up straight (any spinal lean becomes a vertical spine, recruiting lower back erectors). **Upper arm tricep can help** by pushing forward on the paddle handle, levering the upper paddle forward. 3. Exit

Exit begins at the knee, and the blade tip fully leaves the water before the hip. The upper arm is allowed to drop slightly as a brief rest, and the paddle blade exits the water diagonally.

The blade tip is only 6 inches above the water surface.

*some teams emphasize a more vertical exit, other teams emphasize a more diagonal exit. Ask your coach about this

4. Recovery (return to reach- extension position)

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Using a whip-like motion, the paddle is flicked forward to the "paddles up" position. This motion uses a mild arc, describing a modified "D" above the water surface (for right-side paddlers). The back and shoulders again twist-rotate to reach your arm forward.

The recovery motion is a also a brief half-second rest that helps flush lactic acid from the inside shoulder and teres major/ latissimus dorsi muscles.

Training Suggestions

1) Basic technique should be learned before timing. 2) Team timing should be developed before power. 3) Power should be developed before rate. 4) Rate will be developed last with intense endurance and sprint drills. 5) Twice a week, 75 minutes each, is a minimum practice schedule. Advanced teams practice four to six times a week. 6) Join Nepean Masters Swim Club – promoting lifelong fitness through swimming!

Notes About Stroke Rate The db stroke technique is executed at varying spm (stroke-per-minute) rates to achieve different purposes:

-Basic technique training stroke rate is around 45 to 50 spm. Most paddlers can sustain this pace while completing full upper-body rotation at the catch and fully burying the paddle. Your coach should spend one-on-one time with you during this rate to supervise your technique.

-"Six-Sixteen start sequences" can rate from 60 to 80 spm.

-Race pace stroke rate is around 65 spm for novice teams, about 72 to 80 per minute for intermediate teams, and 85+ for advanced teams.

-"Power" stroke rate is the same as your team's race pace, but your coach will incorporate deeper catches and/or more upperbody lean to facilitate this power interval. NOTE: at rates of 72 spm and higher, it becomes very difficult to completely bury the paddle and maintain pure form. The World Champion Chinese team use a special half-buried technique to maintain their blistering 120 spm rate. Your coach will discuss the

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pros and cons of going to higher stroke rates. For beginning boats, a sustainable rate of 65 to 68 spm with intense power is recommended.

Miscellaneous Photos

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