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The Republic Polytechnic (RP) Dragon Boat team participated in the annual MR 500 Dragon Boat race. The MR 500 Dragon Boat race is a Premier 500m race which attracts over 2000 competitors annually from all across the region to battle it out in fierce competition for the rights to be regarded as the top teams in this discipline.
The RP Dragon Boat team participated in the race and did tremendously well against a field of much older and more experienced paddlers, causing upsets against traditional forces in the sport.
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RP Coach Mr
See Chin Tien Flanked by students Christoper Barley and Terence Toh |
In the men’s tertiary Finals, RP shocked the field by defeating local Dragon Boat power houses NUS and SIM to a 2nd (Silver) place finish behind defending Tertiary and University Champions, NTU.
NTU, NUS and SIM are the traditional powerhouses in the sport over the
distance of 500m as they have paddlers who are older, stronger and more experienced. RP’s closest polytechnic rival, NYP
finished 4th, while the rest of the polytechnics did not make it to the finals.
In the Men’s Opens, apart from the Universities, local clubs and other polytechnics, RP was also up against foreign clubs consisting of Filipinos, Canadian, Germans, Britons, Americans and Austrians. In a second series of pleasant surprises, RP qualified first in our heats and semis to make a remarkable entrance into the MR 500 Men’s Open grand finals.
In the Men’s Open grand final’s, RP fought hard against many more experienced and seemingly stronger teams to cross the line together with NTU. It was only through a photo finish that it was determined that NTU had come in 2nd, with RP less that ½ a second behind in 3rd (BRONZE) place. The men’s open event was won by the Singapore National team, who was using the race as a means to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games in China.
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RP (lane 4)
leading the charge to the finish against other boats in the men’s opens
semi-finals |
We would like to thank the School administration, with special mention to OSG staff for supporting us all the way. We would also like to thank our Coach, Mr See Chin Tien, who has constantly taken time off his hectic schedule to make time to guide and coach the team.
We promise to continue to work hard and to bring glory to RP.
RP Dragons GO!
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