Bay Area Dragons Take First Place in the 250 Meter Sprint Race

By John Herrera

TEMPE - After being beaten from pillar to post all weekend long in the 500 meter sprints by the likes of LARD, San Diego, Space Dragons, and Wasabi, the Bay Area Dragons picked themselves off of the canvas and exacted some revenge on their Southern California foes as BAD sprinted its way to victory in the 250 meter sprint championship.  It was yet another first place finish in an event that has become BAD's specialty.  The victory was a much needed one, as it started the march to Penang on a very positive note.

In making its third visit to Arizona in the last four years, the Bay Area Dragons brought a premier mixed, one premier open, and a women's master's crew to the desert to compete in a race that has become very competitive thanks to the rise of the Southern California teams who are able to get all of their strongest paddlers to make the short trek to Arizona.

The first race of the weekend featured the premier mixed crew going up against the local MCC Altier Thunder Dragons and the Los Angeles Racing Dragons, otherwise known as LARD.  BAD and LARD battled it out for first place as strokes Sidney Tao and Andy Wong set a blistering pace which was backed up with authority by Jai Dahr, Judy Wong, Armaan Vachani, Adrian Crawford, and Kathy Phipps.  Unfortunately BAD would fall to a very hard paddling LARD team at the finish.  BAD would finish second in the first race, mere seconds behind LARD.  The Altier Thunder Dragons would cross the finish line about ten minutes later.

The second race featured the open crew.  For the open crew, BAD combined with Dragon Max, a dragon boat team from Alameda whose claim to fame is that they paddled a dragon boat out to Angel Island and then spent the night there.  The combination of Dragon Max and BAD formed what would be affectionately known as "Maxy BAD."  After what seemed like a one hundred year wait at the marshalling area, BAD would finish second again, this time behind San Diego and ahead of Space Dragons.

In race 3, the women's masters' team faced off against Wasabi in a World Club Crew Championship preview.  BAD, behind the valiant efforts of Angie Toy, Aggie Quan, and Sue Gok paddled their hearts out, but finished second behind Wasabi. 

The mixed crew looked to get back on track in their second race of the day against UC San Diego and Wasabi Grand Masters.  The race went down to the wire but BAD would again come up short as they finished second behind UC San Diego.  I believe Wasabi grand masters are still on their way to the finish line, but hey, they're grandmasters.  What did you expect?

The final race of the day featured "Maxy BAD" against the Killer Guppies and the up and coming Space Dragons.  It appeared from all vantage points that BAD was on its way to its first victory of the weekend as Kurt Berger, Justin Lien, Norm Gok, and Tony Lee powered "Maxy BAD" down the race course.  One hundred meters remained when the Killer Guppies lost control of their boat.  With the Guppies looking like they were in ramming speed mode and their boat just inches away from causing a violent collision, helmsman Steve Yan pulled off a minor miracle by swerving away to avoid catastrophe and quickly recovering to put "Maxy BAD" back on a straight path to the finish line.  Unfortunately, the time lost in avoiding the collision would cost "Maxy BAD" the race as they would finish the first day with yet another second place finish behind Space Dragons and ahead of the Killer Guppies who steered their way into a giant cactus.  Rescue efforts are still under way.

Despite the tough luck of day one racing, the BAD mixed crew finished third overall with an average race time if 2:15.2, good enough to be third overall, just two seconds behind San Diego, and one second behind Water's Edge.  BAD was even leading the mighty LARD after the first day of racing.

The tough luck would continue on the second and final day of racing.  After an early morning wake up call, BAD once again found the Southern California powerhouse LARD waiting for them in the marshalling area for the semifinal.  Many were confused as to why BAD would have to race LARD in the semis instead of the final.  The reason was because LARD faltered in its second race on Saturday after having defeated BAD in the first race, giving them a worse average time than BAD and thus sending them to BAD's semi final heat.  USC and Wasabi were also hoping to crash the party.  BAD got tremendous efforts from Kiran Dahliwai, Phoi Trinh, Felicia Ordaz, and Tiffany Su as they quickly surged ahead of USC and Wasabi.  Gary Phipps, Louise Chu, Judy Wong and Cecilia Pang paddled their hearts out, but alas, it wasn't enough to overpower LARD's superiority, and BAD would fall two seconds short of advancing to the finals.

Despite the mixed team's early exit in the 500, all was not lost as the women's masters and "Maxy Bad" still had opportunities to bring home some hardware.  In the open semifinals, "Maxy BAD" again would find itself in an ultra competitive heat that included Team Pinoy and world class opponent San Diego.  To advance to the finals "Maxy BAD" would have to place first or second, which would be a challenging task against such stiff competition.  Tim 'I've spent more time in the water than most fish' Lee, Dan 'the ageless wonder' Folk, and Gold's Gym natives Luis Bacayo and Nolan Louie were huge as they ripped through Arizona's cactus water.  At the 250 meter mark "Maxy BAD" had put Team Pinoy in its rear view as they matched San Diego stroke for stroke.  At the 350 mark the Maxy part of "Maxy BAD" kicked it into gear as Rodger Garfini, Edmund Lee, and Kim Vaulkner (not to be confused with author William Faulkner) helped give "Maxy BAD" the lead.  "Maxy BAD's" best race of the day would end in a close finish with "Maxy BAD" coming in second behind San Diego.  "Maxy BAD's" victory over Team Pinoy meant a birth in the finals and a chance for hardware.

The women quickly followed suit with their best race of the day as they dropped a good old fashioned BAD women 'chicks with sticks' butt kicking on the Killer Guppies and the Los Angeles Pink Dragons.  It was BAD's first win of the weekend and it gave the cactus loving natives of Arizona a chance to witness world cup caliber dragon boat racing.  Val Ogi and Wanda Fong helped BAD shred the competition in a race that will be repeated several times this season on the road to Penang.

The finals got off to inauspicious beginning when the race organizers flipped the schedule so that the women's final came first.  The scheduling snafu left "Maxy BAD" hung out to dry as they had to endure a two hour wait in the hot desert sun.  The moment of truth would finally arrive, but first, "Maxy BAD" was treated to an exciting women's final which saw the women's masters' team blaze their way to a third place finish.  Hardware would be the order of the day for the women's team as they took home the bronze.  It was an impressive feat for the Penang bound crew, and the strong showing in Arizona reflected all of the diligent work that BAD's hardest working crew has put in since beginning preparation to go to Penang.

Finally, the open final was ready to be run.  After two hours of withering in the sun, "Maxy BAD" got the fortunate break of being able to load the boat, paddle to shade below the bridge, and wait while our friendly rivals from San Diego waited at the marshalling area for their boat and then had to paddle out to the start line and then race just moments after the long paddle out to the start line.  The odds makers had to like "Maxy BAD's" chances against an aging, dehydrated, and tired San Diego in lane one.  In lane two, LARD was ready to roll; that is, LARD mixed.  That's right; LARD opted to go with its mixed crew in the open final so you had to like "Maxy BAD" in that match up.  Lane four featured a very beatable Space Dragons team.  The race began with all four teams neck and neck.  BAD was going strong, but then seemed to run out of gas.  "I called a blend and the next thing I know, LARD was just gone," said Steve Yan.  With 100 meters left in the race, gold and silver were out of the question.  It came down to how hard "Maxy BAD" was willing to fight for the bronze as the Space Dragons were nipping at "Maxy BAD's" heels for third place.  "Maxy BAD" showed tremendous heart in not letting the disappointment of getting buried by an old team and a mixed team get them down.  Instead, "Maxy BAD" would win the bronze medal thanks to a furious finish that would leave Space Dragons in "Maxy BAD's" wake.

At long last it was time for the BAD special: the 250 meter sprints.  For the past five years BAD has simply been unbeatable in this event as a veritable smorgasbord of world class dragon boat teams have been defeated by BAD in this race.  Arizona would be no different.  BAD mixed things up for the 250 as the women's masters and the BAD portion of "Maxy BAD" came together for a little fusion action.  The result: instant chemistry baby!  BAD's 250 meter heat featured Space Dragons and, yes that's right, LARD.  This time it would be BAD's turn to shine.  Simmy Lee, one of the strongest women paddlers on BAD whose time during time trials was better than a lot of the men on BAD, was a welcome addition on the 250 crew.  Her inspired paddling helped BAD jump out to an early lead on its Southern California rivals.  It would be a lead that BAD would never relinquish.  BAD blew through the race course at a blistering pace as every member on board was paddling in a fit of controlled rage, fury and chaos.  Despite an intense headwind, BAD crossed the finish line in first place with a tremendous time of 1:12 to claim the 250 meter sprint championship.

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