The Killer Guppies Dragon Boat Team

What better way to end a strong season than spoiling yourself on great food and equally enjoyable company?  The Guppies gathered at George and Ann’s house for the Annual Awards Ceremony and potluck.  Cindy’s famous angel cakes were there, as well as food from Bucca di Beppos and other homemade goodies.

Of course, the captain and the coach wanted to gather the Guppies together to celebrate a year of achievements, as a team and as individuals.  This year has been a year of challenges and surprises.  The Guppies provided in both Long Beach and San Francisco that they were a team that they were the team to watch out for.  Stock with motivation and drive, the Guppies succeeded by making their way to the last race of the day for both San Francisco and Long Beach.

But the team couldn’t have made it to where they were without the commitment of the members and to those who went above and beyond.  Steve started out the Awards night by announcing the winners for the Team.  Only missing 3 days since the season started in February, Harry Tam took home the attendance award.  For his active recruitment, Joe Yang received the Recruitment award, for not only bringing in family and friends, but also his patients!  Apparently, paddling strengthens the heart!  The Fitness Staff awarded Marlon Mendoza and Naoko Odajima for their commitment to fitness, their daily posts about their fitness encouraged many of us to put in the extra effort to park a little farther from the entrance way, or at least for this Historian.  The Team Engine Award is generally given to a non board member who helped out with the team whenever needed, basically they lived and breathed for the Guppies and the awards went to Harry Tam and Rebecca Villarama.

Gary Chan went up next to present his Coach’s Awards.  The first award was for Most Improved Paddler.  Gary watched each paddler like a hawk and out of the returning paddlers, he chose one paddler who stood out among the rest, he award Ming Ieong with the Most Improved Paddler Award.  In addition to watching the veterans, Gary selected a newbie for his commitment to the sport, his always ready to participant attitude, and his achievement as a new paddler, Marlon Mendoza was able to take home this achievement.  And last but not least, Gary choose one Guppy for the Coach’s Award, Harry Tam.

Finally, the last team award given for the night was for the Most Inspiration Paddler.  This award was not determined by the coaches or the board members, but the Guppies themselves.  They were able to nominate someone they believed pushed each and every one of us to do our best and then some.  For the third time this year, Ellen Yu won this award.  Not only for her ability to lead the Guppies to be a stronger better team, but also motivating us with her powerful (almost tear jerking) speeches.

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The forecast for San Francisco was rainy and windy, at least for Saturday. Aside from a light rain storm Friday night, no gray clouds blanketed the sky as the Guppies arrived in Treasure Island for their last tournament of the season.

Coach Gary Chan stressed to the team to treat every single race as if the Guppies were racing in the last race of the day; to give it your all each time your paddle hit the water. And indeed the Guppies did just that. The waters were choppy as the Guppies paddle out into the harbor, but after Coach Gary’s intense training in the Long Beach by the breakers, this was just another walk in the park.

The Blue boat start off the day with a very early race, racing in Heat 4. It was a tight competition with everyone gunning for a chance to place. Instead of being placed into division, each dragon boat needed to place top three in their seeding to advance up. The Gold boat blew everyone away by taking first in the seeding and semi-finals. They even qualified for the special Visitor race with the second fasted time on Saturday’s race, while taking third in the Visitor race.

Aside from the huge surprise that it did not rain at all that race weekend (not even a gray cloud), the Guppies shocked spectators and other race teams by making it to both the Consolation final and the final race of the day! The Blue boat put up a huge fight in the Consolation race and came up 4th overall. While the Gold boat made it to the last race of the day, fulfilling the goal the Guppies made as they trained for SF. The competition was fierce as the Guppies raced head to head with LA Racing Dragons, Air Canada JetStart, Dragon Warriors, Bay Area Dragons, and Life Scan’s Jambalaya. The Guppies placed 5th in the race, but it wasn’t so much about placing, but the fact that the Guppies wanted to be challenged and they were race with the toughest team of the festival.

The gendered teams and the Masters boat put their best stroke forward. The Men’s made it to the semni finals, but couldn’t place high enough to make it to the Final. The Women’s were joined once again by Arizona’s Hila Dragons, but their combined efforts weren’t enough to take on the power ladies teams. The Guppies Masters joined forces with LA Racing Dragons and put away cross town rivalry to put up a great show.

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