Typhoon Tigers raised over £4k for the Breast Cancer Campaign. Winning races is great fun, but the feeling of helping others is priceless.

A glorious day set the scene for an epic battle on the River Thames between all the UK Dragonboat Club Crews... We completed the course in 2:23:33 and was the 2nd UK DB club crew to cross the finish line. Overall we were the 31st boat to cross the line with the 9th fastest time!!! A massive improvement from last year!!

Daniel Chin's Record of Accounts

"I survived and yes, I was at work yesterday (just couldn’t get the email out in time, have to make sure you guys get paid this month right) ;)

We were boat 276 out of 289 and had a handicap of 67 minutes from the rest, so all us dragonboaters didn’t set off until 3:12. We were the first to shoot off and took the lead up from the start. There was a lot of traffic to push through and after a blistering start, we slowly started to feel the long task ahead and the more boats we seemed to catch up on, the more the 'fitter' and more experienced dragonboat crews behind us started to creep up. It wasn’t long before we started getting overtaken by the top club teams and also by both of the 2 international crews (both Dutch).

For the rest of the race, we kept on fluctuating between 6th place and 10th place amongst the dragonboats (there were 14 in total). Everything was going well and got excited when we overtook the number 1 boat which set off a good hour before us (some type of heavy looking row boat!!). It was when we hit Central London when the waters started getting choppy and a few times, we were thrown sidewards across the river causing us to nearly capsize. There was a massive battle for 6th place and at times, you would have seen 3-4 dragonboats charging down the Thames, side by side cutting through the traffic (like something out of The Fast and the Furious, but on water!!) When we saw Tower Bridge we knew it wasn’t long to go but there was a massive battle back and forth with a local Premier crew (Thames Dragons), but in the end, we powered it through all the way to secure that 6th position.

Our time, 2:23, (ahead of our target of 2:25). We were exhausted but happy and with some injuries (I ended up with a cut leg, sore shoulders, back and a numb right bum cheek!! :p). Out of the 289 boats that day, we were the 31st team to cross the line with the 9th fastest time overall. My body's still aching and I think that I deserve a holiday… let me speak to my manager… Sue? ;)

Moreover, we originally had a target of £2k (now £4k) but we've collected just under £4k (and its still growing). I just wanted to say a massive thanks for all your generous donations and also for all your good luck messages and all your support in and out of the office. Like we say, winning races is fun, but helping to save lives is priceless.

Thank you all. :-)"

 

www.justgiving.com/typhoontigers2008

Great River Race 2008 Results