We went into our heats knowing that we were up against opponents we cannot afford to underestimate. Being a short distance race of only 200m, there was little room for mistakes. The crew raced their hearts out and managed to clinched 1st position in the heats. That assured our place in the quarter finals. In the quarter finals, we came in 2nd, behind powerhouse - Austcham Paddle Club. By the progression criteria, we were again assured of progressing to the next level - semi finals.
As always, the competition would only get tougher. This time round, we met another powerhouse (also eventual grand finalist) Filipino Dragons Singapore (FDS) and strong teams such as Jalan Besar CSC and Irish Business Association. The semi-finals could never be more exciting with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th placings finishing 0.01s one after another. Coming in 3rd, we were fortunate that our time was good enough to qualify us into Minor Finals! This was above our expectations and goal!
We were in the 'magical' lane 1 again (same lane since quarter finals), and we were determined not to lag behind so that we could capitalise on the water and lane conditions in the later part of the race course. With unity and determination, we paddled ourselves into 1st position! In the history of this team, this is the best result we had so far!
Our achievements this year would not have been possible without the passion and dedication of our coach, the sacrifice made by each of our fellow teammates and the tireless encouragement from our supporters. We have learnt valuable lessons from this SRR (and also SDBF in July) and are humbled by the reminder that luck is on our side this year. We will continue to train hard, improve and fight together as one, and look forward to 2013 and the challenges ahead. Together in Victory!
