New Year's Eve

Exactly three years ago, back in 2003, Peiwen, Cheeling, Ah Peng, Serene and I did an insane thing to ring in the new year.

We called it the New Year's Eve Run. Sounds simple enough. We met at Siglap for dinner first, then everyone came by my place to deposit their stuff before we started our run. The initial plan was to run down East Coast Park to watch the ships shoot their flares at midnight. But we decided in the end to go further and so we ended up running from home to Bedok and all the way to Changi. Yup, Nasi Lemak Changi.

Yah what was i thinking right? Running with a bunch of the fastest and best runners in the team. The Changi area was gruelling, coz it's just stretches and stretches of never-ending road. At that section, I went into the "What the hell am i doing here?!" mode. They knew that when i get into that mode, i grow very quiet. So they kept telling me, reaching already, reaching already. I knew better than to believe them. After goodness knows how long, we reached Changi and sat down to pig out on Nasi Lemak and other rich goodness we could find there.

After supper, we headed to hail a cab to fetch us back... We weren't crazy enough to run back after stuffing ourselves full. I remember walking out of the food centre, it was then I gave Serene, the incoming captain for the new calender year my word that I would stay in the team the next semester.

And so i signed myself up for another 6 months of aches and pains.

The first 3 years

Peiwen and i were the only ones from our batch to last the full 3 years.

I made a collage of pictures for her as a farewell gift when she left the team and graduated in 2004.

I think if someone were to ever make one for me, it'd probably require a mega-sized frame to fit all the pictures!

Random fact #557

At the June 2004 race, SRC sent down supporters and cheerleaders for the PM Cup event. That year, supporters came by the bus-loads. They were given free t-shirts from which a sea of orange emerged. Many of whom were exchange students. The ang-mohs fascinated by the dragonboat races whipped out their video cams and started recording. The Chinese students must have thought we were some celebrity rowers in school coz they kept stopping us, wanting to take photographs with us.

It was the first time SRC had come out in a big way to show support for the rowers. No doubt, there must have been the intention on their part to show off and intimidate. But we rowers don't really give a hoot, coz we just look forward to getting the free t-shirt.

The following year, NTU sent their supporters down as well. And since then, each June race, there'd always be a contingent of orange and reds (NTU's school colour). See who bigger and louder only loh...

Chasing away the study blues

Right in the middle of studying for the exams, we celebrated See See's birthday. One of the oldest big sisters in the team, we couldn't let the ex-captain off simply with just a cutting of the cake. The result was a huge war of flour-showering at the SRC squash court area. Which explains why some of us ended up looking pasty and white.

Oh and that broom on the floor... we had to use it to clean up after the whole saga was over.

Not childish, just plain playful... Thank goodness it was a Sunday and the SRC was pretty empty then.

Same race, different visions

Jacq got us to draw out what our race plan looked like.

Hui Bing, my rowing partner and I compared notes... Evidently, the way each race looks is unique to every single one of us.

But of course, the fundamentals are all the same.


*for obvious reasons, parts of the race plan have been concealled...

Logistics nightmare

Each race is a logistics nightmare. Coz we not only have our own paddles to take care of, there's also the butt-pads, life jackets, medicine balls, water coolers, glucose containers, water, bread, bananas and sometimes packet lunches. Oh and not to mention our personal belongings. If that's not troublesome enough, imagine bringing all that overseas. Packing our paddles with bubble wrap for cargo when we went to Penang in 2005 itself was a big challenge. Thank goodness, things were made much easier in 2006 with the introduction of large paddle bags which could store up to 12 paddles each with ease.

With so much going on at the race site, it's amazing that over the years, nothing major has been lost.

Bad mix

Dragonboaters and alcohol....

Not a combination i would strongly recommend.

Shoulder press graduation

The shoulder press is my most hated machine. Whoever invented that torture device should be shot in the head! In fact anything which involves the working out of the deltoids is disgusting. And when gym circuits* or endurance training come round, it practically leaves my deltoids paralysed with the build up of excessive lactic acid. But what you hate most, you just gotta do more. So whoever who partners me for gym training, they know that that's the first station i attack.

*gym circuits are carried out for endurance training. Means you do lighter weights, but for an extended period of time. It consists of a series of up to 8 stations done consecutively. There's a specific way in which the stations line up after one another. But not giving any trade secrets away here. *heh*. The only rest time you get is for switching in between. Even then we gotta move fast, if not the captain's gonna start nagging. If you think gym circuits sound painfully gruelling, there's still the ultimate Gym Deluxe Combo. But again, not revealling anything here!

Race traditions

Regardless of the race result, it's always been a tradition that appointment holders are given the toss in the air after the last race of each semester. Kinda like a "Hip Hip Hurray" for a job well done.

The toss usually takes place after the medals have been given out, after the looooooooonnnnnngggg debrief's over. At the go of a secret signal, those standing nearest will grab hold of the appointment holders so that they don't run away while the rest move in to get ready.

It's all a game of maths. The lighter ones get tossed higher, the heavier ones don't. Either that or more manpower is required for the toss.

Swensen's treat

2004 June Race, David promised us a Swensen's treat if we won the IVP gold.

He didn't get to see us race that day, coz he was coxing for the event just after our IVP women's. But as he walked up the walkway from the water after his race, the whole team was already standing by chanting "Swensen's!!! Swensen's!!! Swensen's!!!".

It was then he knew that he was about to burn a big hole in his pocket.

The race which caused the obsession

Rowing at the Marina Promanade is always exciting coz of the choppy waters. Choppy waters also mean that when the boat is hit by a wave, it rocks. It'd be a double whammy if the inside of the boat is filled with water, coz a slight nudge by a wave will send the water rushing to one side, in doing so, badly tilting the boat.

2002 was a memorable June race, a couple of times we tilted so badly coz of the excess amount of water in the boat that for one of the races we practically rowed the last 20m on the left side. The problem??... We were splashing too much water into the boat. And so began the obsession with attempting to reduce the splashing. People were forced to change their techniques and subsequent batches were reminded of the dreadful consequence of getting into the habit of drenching the person behind them.

Well thank goodness races today are held in the calmer waters of the Singapore River and Reservoirs and no longer held at the choppy Marina Promanade.

Random fact #29945

The 2003 Singapore Dragon Boat Festival was originally called off due to SARS. It was later reinstated last minute. So instead of being held at the usual Marina Promanade, this time it was at Kallang Basin. And rather than the usual 800m, all races were pegged at 1km. Only Opens events were held, so for the first time, there was no IVP honours up for grabs.

The race course started from the duck tours launching point and ended near the shoreline of SDBA. Which meant that the boats had to do an "emergency brake" upon crossing the chequered bouy in case they go crashing in the wall.

The men's PM cup went on as usual that year. NTU put up a superb fight beating our guys by a boat length, and might I say the largest win ever in PM cup history. And so began another 3 year cycle*.

*the PM cup cycle lasts 3 years. Whichever team is able to win it 3 years in a row gets to keep the trophy. Till then, it'd just be a game of passing it around.

Creative theft

Let it be known that in 2005 in Penang, I was the first person to suggest that the butt pads be strung up with rope so that it'd be much easier to move it around. A technique still used today.

HA! I'm such a "cheap thrill"...


_______________

Actually back then i got the idea from seeing another team do the same...

it's not plagurism, just creative theft...

The piggy-back culture

Ok if there's one thing i don't understand or cannot explain, it will have to be the piggy-back culture in the team. The fad probably began a couple of years ago. The popularity of the piggy-back syndrome is just beyond me. Perhaps it's the display of female prowess?

For fear of breaking someone else's back, i've never tried it.

Maybe i just should one day.

Lucky 7

We've always had the habit of using locker 7 at SDBA to store our valuables. Valuables range from watches to wallets to laptops to cameras to pineapple tarts. Each locker cost $1. Which is kindly contributed from a random wallet which the person locking the locker picks up.

Why locker 7 you may ask? Maybe it's coz it's the Lucky 7. But seriously, I think it's just coz the locker is convienently located at the eye-level.

Pre-training rituals

There's always alot to do before training starts. Filling of bottles, tying of rudders, back in the day it included the collecting of bailers and paddles for the whole team.

Underlying all this, it's always an issue of politics. Coz somehow, the same few always end up carrying out the pre-training rituals for the benefit of the whole team. They are the ones who quietly go about moving things around so that after warm-ups, all we need to do is just pick up everything and hit the water. And those who arrive later or on time always get away with not contributing. Which sometimes can irritate and piss the quiet sloggers off. But the guilty ones most of the time get their asses moving with a little nudging and explict telling off... now you know it's not always lurrrveeee lurrrvveee lurrvvvveeee in the team.

Oh and not forgetting, after we get up from the water, the whole process is repeated... only in reverse.

Vitasoy pamperings

Post training Vitasoy drinking started in Mong-na's era. After each training, we are all treated to a carton of Vitasoy, courtesy of the team fund. Except for those who have adverse reactions after gulping down the room-temperature soyabean milk, a bottoms-up is expected of everyone. I must say the soyabean drink is best served chilled. But after gruelling trainings, it being the first thing that we gulp down to quench our thirst, it is usually a welcomed treat by all.

The protein supposedly is good for post training muscle recovery. But i say it's excessive pampering of the people loh...

Morning traditions

It's always been a tradition that we have our breakfast together on race day at MacDonald's. It's always the branch at Boat Quay for regatta and the one at Marina Square back when june races were at Marina Promanade. A) Coz they were near the race site B) Air-conditoning, what's not to love.

These days, even if there's no MacDonald's near the race site, there's always the delievery service. MacDonald's staff came in a cab when we ordered breakfasts from them this July, coz there was no MacDonald's near Bedok Reservoir. We were actually expecting to see a whole entourage of motorbikes come into the car-park. Smart of them to come in a cab, and oh delivered the 26 breakfasts on a trolley to our tent... damn spoilt or what?!

I've always been pretty confused with the whole MacDonald's tradition. Considering the fact that the pre-race food ban does not encourage fried food, it's pretty ironic that we smash the abstinence rule the morning of the race by chomping on deep-fried hash-browns. Which leaves that oily feeling in my throat... bleh. The solution... Eat in moderation they say. So since Mong-na, captains have been imposing the 2 people : 1 hashbrown rule.

Traditions will always be traditions. MacDonald's breakfasts will probably remain as race day must-haves. With the exception of that ever shrinking piece of hash-brown.

Cult Meeting

When nothing else works, it's time to count on divine intervention
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the bizarre things we do during races... arhahaha!

Stretch stretch and stretch

In my opinion, i always thought we have a pretty long sequence of warm-ups/cool-downs. Sometimes the guys team start their warm-ups later than us, and then when they finish, we are still not done.

The warm-up sequence begins from the head down to the legs, always starting with the left side... yes we are darn systematic. One thing's for sure, it always ends with jumping jacks. Every 2 jumping jacks, we count. Don't ask we why favour the even numbers more, coz it's always been done this way. Unless the sun has risen from the west that morning, you are never gonna do less than 60. With "last 10" being the only instruction, you never know how many you are gonna end up doing. 2 crucial elements when doing jumping jacks. Make sure the hands touch above the head and count loud. Coz if these 2 aren't fufilled, numbers will sky-rocket in no time. Who can forget the morning warm-up at SDBA where mong-na pushed the figure up to 200 coz the 20 of us were counting just loud enough for the little ants on the ground to hear.

Cool-down sequence starts from the legs up, and as usual, left sides first. Needless to say, the cool-down sequence is equally long. Which can get me pretty bored and impatient coz the end of cool-down marks the end of training, and sometimes you just hope training would end soon. So you can guess i'd always be damn happy when the captain says "neck stretch, left".

I can safely say that the most suspense-thrilling moment of water training cool-downs has gotta be just before it starts or the time between the quads stretch and back stretch. Coz everyone knows that if we are gonna do any push-ups, that will be the time. And with water training just finished, you always pray that that magic number is as small as possible. Once again, the only instruction given is "last one", so you are left having mind battles in your head anticipating how many you are gonna do. But experience will tell you that it's best just to let your mind go and do it. Coz the mind games is just gonna make you feel more miserable, needless to say, it's not gonna make the number smaller anyway.

Numbers range from 10 to infinity, depending on how many people were late that training or just the mood of the captains. With the most unforgettable being 30th October 2003 when Peiwen dished out a total of 100 push-ups, only allowing a short minute break at the 50 mark for people to catch up. On days when there are no push-ups, captains sometimes add a pregnant pause between these 2 cool-down stretches, just for the added suspense... cheap thrill or what.

The warm-up and cool-down sequences have pretty much stayed the same since the beginning of time. With the exception of added "bonuses", it's prehaps one of the most predicitabe parts of training... or so we are made to believe... heh heh heh!

Final prayer

I hoped for composure, courage and strength,
for the waters to be kind to us and a clamp-down on all the uncontrollables,
and for us to be the best that we could possibly be.

Go ORANGE!

for the first day at Penang, the flag was under my charge...

go on... laugh all you want

Evolution

June, 2002

December 2002

July 2006
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less is always more...
dgnbtrs these days should consider themselves lucky
coz the smaller the life-jacket, the easier it is to twist and move, not to mention, the very much reduced chance of getting that dreadful stinging life jacket abrasions.

Yearly reunion

Chinese New Year reunion dinners take place sometime a week before Chinese New Year itself. The dinner itself is a big project with welfare duos calling up alumni members and scouting around for a venue big enough to house the whole party.

As usual, alot of food is involved, with some people regretting sitting at the table full of big eaters... ha! Yu Sheng's also a must each year. Alot of it ends up on the table though, so it's just for the fun of it. And as usual, everyone always goes for the crackers.

Favourite jersey

This has gotta be my all time favourite race singlet. Classic calligraphic dragon coupled with a poem written by a snr snr rower, who was a Chinese language major. Loosely (direct) translation: At the sound of the horn (hao4 ling4 yi1 fa1), efforts together (qi2 xian4 li4), riding the waves (cheng1 feng1 po4 lang4), dragonboat team (long 2 chuan 2 dui4). Oh and the 2 red characters at the bottom which say NUS... little detail which adds the finishing touch... =)

Sadly shortly after the race, my favourite singlet was accidently washed pink. But after many years of going through the wash, it's more or less close to it's original white now.

Marking the end

Last trainings before the race are always filled with photo-whoring. Everyone's excited and psyched up now that months of training is over and the big day has finally arrived. It's the perfect chance to whip out that camera to mark the end of the semester/season. Besides, it's a good excuse to bring the camera out and take some shots while we are on the water, coz we'd never get a chance to do it any other day without getting evil stares from the captains.


*when doing so don't forget to at least place ya camera in 2 zip-lock bags, for double protection!*

Excuse to party

For as long as i can remember, the Mooncake Festival has always been celebrated by the team. It's funny that this is the only Chinese Festival that we actually celebrate, when we have never once commemorated the Dragon Boat Festival proper.

The only explanation for this has got to be the fact that the Mooncake Festival swings by September/October every year. Right in the middle of the semester. So it's a perfect excuse to break away from the books, get together and pig-out on mooncakes.

In 2000, in an effort to get both mens and womens teams being more 'friendly' to one another, both teams came together to celebrate the festival. It failed miserably. So 2001 it was just us. Duo team celebrations were then revived and continued in 2003, ok, that failed miserably too. But things seem to be slowly getting better as the years go by. Which is probably a good thing... or not?!!?!

Sunblock 1101

When it comes to training and sunblock, you can't be stingy with it. So here are YS' essentials, the how-to to applying sunblock.

1) What - Anything above SPF30 is good enough. Since you are gonna get wet. Water-resistant is a must. Sweat-resistant is a bonus. A combination of all these, you might wanna go for the Coppertone Sports Sunblock.

2) How much - application layer has to be at least 1mm thick. Or according to angeline, use at least 1 shot glass full of it.

3) Where - technically it's supposed to go on every part of your body. Even under the clothes, coz UV will penetrate it. But at this rate, you are gonna go broke. So make do with the exposed areas can ald. But if you wanna splurge, you can even get sunblock for the lips and hair, yes there are such things.

4) When - this is important. Half an hour before your activity. Coz it needs to set and get into your skin for it to really work. If you do it 5mins before warm-up starts, likely you are gonna look smoky white at the end of warm-ups, so if you don't wanna look unglam, half and hour's the best.

5) Result - the whole purpose of applying sunblock is so you don't burn really badly, and get protected from the sun's harmful UV rays. Which means you will surely get tan no matter what, just that most of the time, it wouldn't be a tan gone wrong. So if you are looking to go out in the sun and still remain fair and original, you might as well stay locked up in a dark room with no windows. Coz it ain't gonna happen.


Disclaimer:
take it or not, the above tips are purely based on experience and should not be treated as medically scientific facts

First and last

The 4-seater dragon boat at the must have been the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen in dragonboat racing. It's small, it's so cramp that the guys usually take one per row and sit on alternating sides. It's difficult to control, coz the coxswain's got to cox using the paddle and not a proper rudder which is attached to the boat. Which means the coxswain's gotta sit and not stand. Oh and the races were 200m only. Practically just do a starts and charge immediately after.

Thank goodness the Chinese Garden Races was the first and last time i ever saw those boats.

Full-time dragonboater

Preparations for the June Race are always long and arduous with trainings amounting to at least 5 times a week. It's all about training, go home and sleeping, and waking up the next day to repeat the cycle all over again. It's no wonder that for some, race day is something to look forward to!

Infamous

* tsk tsk tsk*

so now you know... bad timing and I go wayyyyyy back