Dragon boaters spar to enter finals

Paddlers put their backs into it yesterday during the Taipei International Dragon Boat Championship on the Keelung River, Tachia Riverside Park. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

BANG: Taipei County and Taipei City will hold their respective dragon boat racing finals today and fans can look forward to some close racing between the teams

Hundreds of spectators crammed onto the Pitan River suspension bridge yesterday to watch the Taipei County dragon boat races -- and they weren't disappointed as they saw some of Taiwan's best paddlers duke it out right below them.

Leading the pack in the domestic men's divisions at the Formosa International Dragon Assembly Speaker's Cup were the Hsintien City Administrative Team, the Taipei Physical Education College team and the Hsintien City team.

The Ming-te High School wrestling team and the National Taiwan University Center for Chinese Language and Culture Studies (CCLC) teams are also expected to advance to the Speaker's Cup finals today.

Yen Ching-feng (ÌCáqæ¡), captain of the Hsintien City Administrative Team, said his team had raced well, but they were exhausted by their four preliminary races.

"I'm afraid the team's going to be dead tomorrow. We're winning right now, but I don't know if we have the strength to keep it going," he said. "I'm afraid they won't be strong enough tomorrow."

The team's coach, Lin Cheng-hsiung (»L´À¦ø), was a bit more optimistic.

"They were great, but the whole field is strong. It comes down to luck tomorrow. We'll have to see what kind of luck we have."

The competition in the domestic men's races is expected to intensify today and some coaches and participants said after the prelims a few teams might try to cheat by putting some people on their boat who aren't on their roster.

"I'm telling my team to request an ID check on all the teams they race in tomorrow morning's semifinal," said one coach who asked not to be identified.

"The stakes are too high and there's been talk today that one or two teams are racing with people they didn't register."

In the women's division, the Hsintien Aboriginal Women's team blew the field away in their first race, automatically advancing to today's final.

"Are those women? Wow," said an American man on the suspension bridge as he watched the team.

With the Aborigines set to win today, the real race to watch in the women's division will be the likely close battle for second place.

The CCLC will take on Independent Legislator Lo Ming-tsai's (ù©ú¤~) team -- made up of female students from National Taiwan Normal University -- and the Hsintien City Administrative Offices team.

In the races' international division, the USA Viewsonic Dragon boat team from San Diego impressed the crowd.

It should win its men's and co-ed international finals today against other front runners, the Philippines' Aqua Fortis Rowing Club and Japan's Kansai team.

Meanwhile, at the Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championship on the Keelung River yesterday, the race's domestic divisions continued their second day of racing, to whittle the large field of almost 100 domestic teams down to those who compete in today's finals.

In the international men's division, Thailand led the pack with South Africa close behind. Thailand will have to stay technically perfect today to hold off the South African challenge.

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Copyright (c) 2002 by Ingrid Jensen