In the end, they made it look effortless.
A technically perfect Taipei Physical Education College men's team -- racing under their sponsor's name, Galaxy Co (星找科技) -- pulled ahead of the field in the Speaker's Cup finals at the Taipei County dragon boat races yesterday to reach the flags first with a time of two minutes, 5.84.
After a day of competition in which all of the leaders in the men's divisions were reporting times of 2:10, the college's time was dramatic.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"We're absolutely elated. It's so much more meaningful than last year because this year all the teams were so strong. It's incredible we could take first overall against such good teams," said team captain Cheng Shi-fei (
Team coach Liu Te-chih (
"Our strokes are so much more efficient than everyone else's. We don't have to go at a fast pace because we pull so much water going slower," Liu said after his team won last night.
PHOTO: AP
"If you're not efficient and pulling a lot of water then it doesn't matter how fast you are? -- there's no point," he said.
Coming in second place was the Hsintien City Dragon Boat team with 2:09.86, followed by the Taipei County Aborigines and the Hsintien City Zhongshan neighborhood, with 2:10.85 and 2:11.96, respectively.
Just before the final, a heated argument took place when the Zhongshan team protested its lane assignment as unfair.
Zhongshan argued that it shouldn't have been placed in lane one when it was going into the final with the second-fastest time.
The referees rejected Zhongshan's appeal.
The atmosphere at the races was tense all day, with most teams requesting ID checks on their opponents after rumors Saturday night that some teams were planning to put ringers on their boats.
No irregularities were reported yesterday, however.
The women's finals were over faster than the men's because there was only one women's division, but the competition for the top three spots out of the eight teams was no less intense.
In a tight race, the Taipei County Aborigines prevailed with a time of 2:48.67. National Taiwan Normal University's Center for Chinese Language and Culture Studies team got to the flags in 2:49.07, with the Hsintien City Aborigines crossed right behind them in 2:49.34.
Though the domestic teams stole the show, the international men's and co-ed divisions also saw some experienced paddling, most notably from the USA Viewsonic Dragon boat team from San Diego, California and the Hong Kong Dragon Air team.
But neither was able to defeat the Chinese Taipei team, which won the men's international division.
The women's international division was scrapped entirely, with the Philippines' Aqua Fortis Rowing Club the only team with enough women to race.
But the Filipinas were allowed to compete for the Speaker's Cup against the domestic teams, which they beat easily in 2:46.21.
"They're feeling great," said the team's captain, Earnest Versoza. "At the beginning they were crying because of what happened to their category, but now they're very happy," he said.
Versoza, whose team has competed at the Taipei City races for many years but decided to give the new international competition a shot, said his team would be back at the Formosa competition next year, but only if the organizers get more international teams together.
"We love competing in Taiwan," he said. "We love the people, we love the food, we love the rowing."
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