Faster than a speeding dragon: Winning Appliances team wins race!

February 13th, 2012

Company News

2012 is the year of the dragon, which is one of the most powerful and lucky signs in the Chinese zodiac. All around the world, celebrations for the Chinese lunar new year took place from 20 January – 5 February.

An annual event in Sydney is the Dragon Boat Races on Darling Harbour. This year CEO of Winning Appliances John Winning sponsored OzPaddle (the premier kayaking group in the Eastern suburbs) to participate in the race – with winning results!

We caught up with team captain Val Titov to get the scoop:

What is dragon boat racing?

Dragon Boat racing is a fast and furious water sport which requires 22 people to propel a boat from start to finish. The standard crew is typically 22 people, comprising 20 paddlers, sitting in pairs facing forward, along with 1 drummer at the bow facing towards the crew, and 1 sweep, sitting at the rear of the boat to steer.

Dragon Boat racing is a long standing Chinese tradition that started in southern China about 2000 years ago.

How competitive was last weekend’s race?

The annual Chinese New Year regatta is very competitive and there were over 70 teams racing on the Sunday.

How long has this race been running for?

This is one of the premier club dragon boat events and attracts the largest participation by clubs, crew numbers and spectators nationally. 4 February was for all of the sports teams and 5 February was for the Corporate, Social and Community teams, with over 70 teams racing. This regatta has been running since 1988 in Darling Harbour.

How often does the Winning Appliances/OzPaddle team train?

We train with OzPaddle on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays on plastic kayaks, so we’re not very familiar with dragon boating at all!  For this regatta, we only had time for 2 x 1 hour training sessions in a dragon boat.

And what was the result?

We successfully managed to win both of our finals and also achieved the fastest time for the day!

A very big thanks to Herman (John) from Winning Appliances for sponsoring us and making this regatta possible. We really appreciate you giving us this fantastic opportunity.

Congratulations Val and the OzPaddle team – you truly did Winning Appliances proud! We look forward to cheering you on at future paddling events.

About OzPaddle

Winning Appliances/OzPaddle Dragon Boat team are a bunch of paddling enthusiasts who train regularly with the OzPaddle paddling group, and who view themselves as the winningest bunch of paddling appliances on the water.

OzPaddle are the Eastern Suburbs’ premier kayak fitness group. Situated in Tingira Reserve at Rose Bay on Sydney Harbour, and led by world champion surf ski paddler Tommy Woodriff, OzPaddle aims to bring the fitness benefits of paddling to all Sydney-siders.

Group sessions involve a mix of running, swimming and paddling, and cater for all levels of fitness and experience. The group trains from Tingira Reserve on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from Woolloomoolloo on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 6.15 until 7.15. Sessions are $20 each, and bookings are not necessary.