KUCHING: University team Swinburne Dragons gave a credible account of themselves in their debut Sarawak International Dragon Boat Regatta outing here recently.
One of their entries which went up against 59 other challengers from 20 countries managed to make it as far as the semifinals in the race while two others narrowly missed the cut.
According to a press release on Wednesday (Nov 8) Swinburne Dragons also emerged as a genuinely international team, exemplifying the diverse composition of the community at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus.
The 32 members of Swinburne Dragons came from Sarawak, Sabah, Johor, Melaka, Selangor and Penang as well as four other countries – Sri Lanka, Kenya, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
“The team took part in five of the seven categories at the three-day international race, which took place from Oct 27-29 at Kuching Waterfront.
“The five categories that the team participated in were the International Premier Mix 12, International Premier Men 12, International Premier Women 12, International Premier Mix 22 and the International Premier Open 22.
“Swinburne Dragons’ International Premier Women 12 crew paddled all the way into the semi-finals, after inching out multiple international teams, amongst them teams from China, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, Qatar, Thailand and a few others,” it said.
At the same time, their International Premier Mix 12 crew missed qualifying for the semi-finals by a mere 0.09 seconds, while the International Premier Mix 22 crew was only 0.42 seconds short of qualifying for the semi-finals.
“We are a very young team; most of the members had only less than half a year of experience with the sport and our newest members had only held a paddle for the first time less than two months before the race.
“Nonetheless, their determination, dedication and absolute tenacity have allowed them to paddle faster, harder and farther than many of the far more experienced international teams,” said team manager James Loi.
The team was coached by several Swinburne alumni, led by head coach Octavia Teo.
Swinburne Dragons who have set their sights on next year’s races will resume training in a few weeks.
