After the first round, Mayfair was fastest (just under 2 minutes in an outside lane), Hydros 2nd, Canadian Seniors 3rd (inside lane).

No change in position after 2nd round. Mayfair (inside lane) just over 2 minutes, Hydros 1 second slower, Seniors about 2:04, 1 second slower than their first time. Looks like the race will be between Mayfair and Hydros.

How did Manayunk do?

Half of the teams (including Manayunk) hadn't raced until the afternoon... I think it is premature to declare Mayfair and Hydros as the top teams!

First round of the second half:
Hanalei: 2:03
HammerHeads: 2:04
Pirhanas: 2:04
BigFish: 2:05
Manayunk: 2:06

Results for Saturday are up. http://www.jonathanyam.com/db2008/results.html

A Final for tomorrow:

Mayfair
CSDC
Hydro
Hanalei
Pirhanas
Hammerheads

Race 70/109, 9:50AM/4:40PM
1 Outer Harbour DBC
Hammerheads
2 Canadian Senior DBC
CSDC Senior Mixed
3 Outer Harbour DBC
Hydrophobic Dragons powered by Apex Paddles
4 Outer Harbour DBC
Mayfair Predators
5 Hanalei
6 Piranhas DBC

LOL the lineups are exactly the same for the two races? i wonder if there is going to be a big change between the races and the results, thats a really long time between the two!

To remove discriminations between MORNING and EVENING paddlers, they specifically designed a SEVEN HOURS GAP between the TOP TEAMS. This is when practising both in the morning and in the evening (or late afternoon) will be a DEFINITE ADVANTAGE.

Sheesh, whatever happened to CORPORATE TEAMS?!

why is pfizer in Premier Mixed C? Their time says otherwise. 2:30 and 2:25 how did that work out...?

That's what I don't understand. Boehringer Ingleheim (Canada) Ltd
BI Dragons did a 2:20.02 and a 2:13.98 and they are in the “F” division. Someone screwed up somewhere!!

BI seems in the right place.

Pfizer is DEFINITELY not.

whos in A B C finals?

http://www.jonathanyam.com/db2008/day2.html

Link to Sunday line up.

Waiting out the SEVEN HOURS between races, I decided to drag out the laptop and post some results...

Mayfair 1:55.80
Hydros 1:58.49
CSDC 1:59.83
Hanalei 2:01.05
HHeads 2:02.77
Piranhas 2:04.99

Fast times and I think its safe to say the water level is high.

Having came home after crying from another loss to Mayfair...here are the Grand Finals results:

Mayfair 1:55 (so what else is new?!)
Hydro 1:56 (very strong, but still can't touch Mayfair)
Hanalei 1:57 (ride washing Mayfair to a 4 seconds improvement over last race)
CSDC 1:58 (strong, but no Mayfair contender)
Piranhas 2:00 (looks great in last race...ready for Malaysia)
Hammerheads 2:02 (welcome back HH's!)

Hmm, based on the positive vs negative comments above, "A Finalist" paddles for either Piranhas or Hammerheads.

Mayfair rocks. Should be a great show down at Nationals with False Creek.

Anon @ 9:58 PM

You have absolutely no CLUE who the poster was. Stop guessing - you suck at it.

"A Finalist" sounds like a moron.

Observations about this weekends races: Hydros have made amazing progress! Mayfair still rules & very tight B & C race times.

2008 Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival
Official Results

106 Premier Mixed Final D
TELUS Day 2 Sunday
Race Time 4:10:00 PM
1 Shockwave DBC 2:11.13 3
2 TD Canada Trust
TDCT Twin Dragons 2:12.05 6
3 Bank of Montreal
BMO First Dragons 2:11.55 5
4 Old Skul'd 2:09.76 2
5 University of Toronto Engineering
Iron Dragons 2:09.63 1
6 Wahoos DBC 2:11.48 4


107 Premier Mixed Final C
TELUS Day 2 Sunday
Race Time 4:20:00 PM
1 Excellent Stores Limited (Trinidad)
Excellent Stores Titans 2:10.68 5
2 University of Toronto Victoria College DBC
VICrew 2:10.38 4
3 The Blades 2:06.64 2
4 University of Toronto New College
New Dragons 2:06.21 1
5 Outer Harbour DBC
Warriors 2:07.36 3
6 University of Toronto University College DBC
Waterdragons 2:12.68 6


108 Premier Mixed Final B
TELUS Day 2 Sunday
Race Time 4:30:00 PM
1 St Joseph's Health Centre
The Saints 2:07.71 6
2 Manayunk Dragon Boat Racing Team (Philadelphia) 2:07.36 5
3 Big Fish 2:06.34 3
4 Scotiabank
Scotia Rouge 2:03.51 1
5 Hamburger Drachenboot Club e.V. (Hamburg, Germany)
Hamburg Syndicate Dragonboat Team 2:05.43 2
6 GlaxoSmithKline
GSK Firedragons 2:06.49 4


109 Premier Mixed Grand Championship
TELUS Grand Championship Cup Day 2 Sunday
Race Time 4:40:00 PM
1 Outer Harbour DBC
Hammerheads 2:02.59 6
2 Canadian Senior DBC
CSDC Senior Mixed 1:58.45 4
3 Outer Harbour DBC
Hydrophobic Dragons powered by Apex Paddles 1:56.82 2
4 Outer Harbour DBC
Mayfair Predators 1:55.85 1
5 Hanalei 1:57.82 3
6 Piranhas DBC 2:00.07 5

So anyone have video of the A Final?

lane 1 OHBDC Hammerheads___2:02.59______(6)
lane 2 CSDC Senior Mixed______1:58.45______(4)
lane 3 OHDBC Hydrophobic_____1:56.82______(2)
lane 4 OHDBC Mayfair Preds____1:55.85______(1)
lane 5 Hanalei_______________1:57.82______(3)
lane 6 Piranahs DBC__________2:00.07______(5)

Manayunk had maybe 7-8 guys here, that's all. The rest of their mixed squad appeared to be filled with CSDC's male and female subs. Manayunk also entered the only Open race and combined with CSDC's guys. They won by a slim margin over Rip the Fondue.

7-8 guys, any women? If not then most of the boat was Canadian. Seems like they should have picked another name like Manacanuck?

Ill see you in.....GWN...erhm

positive spin for all the A finalists cause they deserve it, it was a hard weekend for them.

1. Mayfair 1:55: Showing it how its done. One of the top teams in Canada and deservingly so. Gearing up for Malaysia and will represent Canada well. Amazing.
2. Hydro 1:56: The future of the sport in this town. Giving Mayfair a run for their money and making them work. Amazing again.
3. Hanalei 1:57: Too much is said about how this team is known to be a washriding crew but the fact remains they qualified top 4 so they are fast and strong. Good showing.
4. CSDC 1:58 : Wicked showing, showing us young folks that we got nothing on them. Really good showing for making that battle from 1-4 tight.
5. Piranhas 2:00 : I guess its redemption for this team after being relegated to 12 spot by the forum naysayers. Almost cracked sub 2 without the express lane, not bad.
6. Hammerheads 2:02: Another redeemed team and giving it all and reaching the A final. Strong showing.

comon ppl, Mayfair, "one of the top crews in Canada"..... please replace canada with "the World"!!

1:55 twice in one day.... draw your own conclusions/!

To the following teams:

Mayfair - Wow. 1:55? I don't think there is a word that can describe their dominance. Well done.
Hydros - Although still not a legitimate threat to Mayfair, at their rate of improvement they are going to be better than everyone by 2009.
Piranahs - Major redemption from the very low expectations posted in the predictions thread. 2 minutes flat in a non-washriding lane is impressive.
Hammerheads - Strong push to knock out perrenial favourite Scotia Rouge and fish nesmesis Big Fish.

Great racing this weekend for Canadian Dragon Boat!

Mayfair, Events Alive, Hydro and SCC !

I think if Mayfair, SCC Montreal Men, and Rip the Fondue continue to train hard they will hopefully cause some serious damage in Penang !

The NCC and Canadians should be amazing to watch this year and some are predicting it will be some of Canadian best and fastest teams to date.

Bring on the OLYMPICs Canada is ready !

"comon ppl, Mayfair, "one of the top crews in Canada"..... please replace canada with "the World"!!
1:55 twice in one day.... draw your own conclusions/!"

BEST RECRUITMENT PROGRAM IN CANADA.
FULLSTOP.

Hydro's are the real deal as a crew.
Mayfair, nice National Team.

Now now....people were saying the same thing about Imperial when they were dominant. Top crews attract and retain top talent. In my eyes Mayfair moved back to "true club crew" status when they kept their superstars and had them train together over the last two years. G&G is the team that should be labeled more as a "national crew" since their paddlers don't really train together all that much.

nice job, OHDBC

are the ohdbc teams associated in anyway other than practice location?

Exactly. Not at all.

OHDBC is a paddling centre with little to no cross-pollenization or integration between teams. It's just an entity created to satisfy DBC's mandate to impose a club structure on Canadian dragonboat. There are few true multi-crew "clubs".

LTFD...
True Club Crew - kinda.
I'd buy that argument if 90% of the crew were not trying out for National Crews
and their coach is part of the Mayfair organization.

No doubt that they have upped the level of racing, and showed how a bunch of
kids hung in their to the end - Hydro's. Great Final. Way to go Hydro's.

ouch. bitter.

OH is a collection of mixed crews under a common board who all support women's, senior etc... specialty crews. Club enough. If anything, allowing crews to micromanage themselves has proven a lot more effective in growing the sport.

DBC isn't imposing anything. Just conforming with IDBF regulations.

That being said, let's hold off on best in the world until Malaysia.

Great job to all the A-finalists at the island this past weekend. This year's island race may have been the most difficult ever in terms of making the A-final. I believe its also the fastest A Final in the event's history with four sub-2 minute teams and the remaining crews not too far behind.

But based on the predictions, some crews seriously underperformed:

Scotia Rouge: A lock by every predictor. Wins B division but didn't make A despite being in the morning races when conditions were better.

Big Fish: In contention for the Grand Chamoionship after the first race (ranked around 7th with a 2:05) but stumbled badly in the second race with a time near 2:10.

Manayunk: Forum predictors heavily favoured this crew without knowing much about them. Despite adding CSDC paddlers, they didn't come close to the A division and were even blown out but the Piranahs in their second race with a 2:10 time.

Hamburg: Same as Manayunk with lower expectations. Really big boys in that boat. There is a 6'3" guy sitting is seat #2!

Mayfair is the best club team in the world and will prove it at Nationals and then in Penang.

1:55 twice in one day - maybe False Creek can race with them - no one else can.

i hope mayfair and hydro would consider going to Ottawa to race against Events Alive ... that would be a AWESOME race to watch.

Ottawa is a horrible race if you are a racer. Great if you love beer.

Events alive wouldn't compete. It took every national team canoer they could muster to just nip the beasts last year.

maybe events alive should come to toronto. By far, thats where the competition was this weekend!

i heard that events alive only do dragon boat race once a year (Ottawa). that's it. i dont think they will travel to toronto to do dragon boat race.

the best time they posted was 1:56, and chiro wow, did 1:57 as best their time for the weekend i believe

would be nice to see in a race mayfair, hydro, events alive and chiro... dont blink or you will miss the freakin race

what would it take to get all the great teams in canada to come to a festival at the end of the year. GWN, quebec cup? Canadian championships? I'd like to see that!

Canadian Championships will be as close as we get. Mayfair and Dragon Beasts are going. Events will never travel. I assume Hydro as well as every other A-finalist team will be there (TIDBRF and Pickering). I'd be surprised if Sudbury and Verdun don't come as well. Only teams we won't see of note will likely be FCRCC and Gorging.

Interesting, do we have a confirmed list of teams coming to the Cdn championships?

Just came back from Ottawa and is was amazing. Best festival ever. Racing always ontime and they finally used a canno for starting. What a weekend.

cdn champs

not official, but from the crews:

mayfair,
beasts
False creek
Verdun

Re: Toronto Island Results June 23 2008, 9:46 AM

"i heard that events alive only do dragon boat race once a year (Ottawa). that's it. i dont think they will travel to toronto to do dragon boat race.

the best time they posted was 1:56, and chiro wow, did 1:57 as best their time for the weekend i believe

would be nice to see in a race mayfair, hydro, events alive and chiro... dont blink or you will miss the freakin race"

Events Alive posted a 1:52.

Times across regattas aren't comparable. Even in the same event at different times isn't.

Mayfair could have potentially had an even faster time if they didn't have wash-riding hanalei beside them

Whats the deal with the top 12.. no University teams anywhere?
they even got smoked by a Hospital team.. who the hell is St Jo fish anyways?

It wasn't just Hanalei wash riding! Both crews moved right in to catch the bus, and Hydros timed their shoot very nicely... just not strong enough (yet) to power past Mayfair.

"Mayfair could have potentially had an even faster time if they didn't have wash-riding hanalei beside them"

Totally true. Throughout the race you could hear the referee in the chase boat screaming at Hanalei. "Lane 5 get back in your lane". "Lane 5 get back in your lane or you will be disqualified". All this as Brad was weaving Hanalei into the ghost lanes in between buoys. GWN, if you are going to have ghost lanes, IMMEDIATELY disqualify teams for crossing into that area. You were yelling at them all throughout the race but nothing happened and they grabbed third. If the excuse is because they always passed the ghost lane buoys on the proper side, then lay down more buoys. Otherwise we're all going to do the same thing.

7-8 guys, any women? If not then most of the boat was Canadian. Seems like they should have picked another name like Manacanuck?

I like "Canayunk" better:)

Thanks for taking the time to comment on the non-A finalists, but I have to take some exception to being referred to as an "underacheiver". Not every team is good enough to make the "A" final. We weren't, but that doesn't make us an underachiever. We achieved EXACTLY what we were capable of, not "under" anything.

Hats off to the A Finalists for an amazing performance, you all absolutely deserved your spots in the Big Show. But as for the rest of us who are still aspiring to reach those heights, don't call us underachievers. We are what we are and we're working to get better.

"Throughout the race you could hear the referee in the chase boat screaming at Hanalei. "Lane 5 get back in your lane". "Lane 5 get back in your lane or you will be disqualified". All this as Brad was weaving Hanalei into the ghost lanes in between buoys. GWN, if you are going to have ghost lanes, IMMEDIATELY disqualify teams for crossing into that area."

Same crap happens everywhere it seems.
It only has to happen once or twice where the race officials have the guts to do this and actually DQ a team or slap a time penalty on them. The issue is not so much slowing down a Mayfair who is going to win anyway but getting an edge on the other boats who deserve a fairer shot at a medal. You can argue they should have gone faster in the prelims to get next to the bus but unless you have advancement by place (which is impossible with so many teams) you cannot be assured the most deserving teams are in the center lanes.

This is pretty funny, the one poster above says it happens everywhere and the adjacent thread says this:

Re: Alcan Day 1 June 23 2008, 2:20 AM

Yep,it was a 1.55 mixed w/ the second and third place teams riding the False Creeks wash in the mixed .From what I saw both of those teams crossed into False Creeks lane trying to take advantage ,Smart race on the part of second and third

Opinions on it have evolved. In the early years of this forum, washriding was uniformally hated by everyone posting here. Then it gradually became a "damned if you do damned if you don't" situation and accepted practice given the lax rule enforcement. After all, it sucks to follow the rules and watch some jerk cheating and beating you. Same thing with posters from the west. I remember them saying it was an East Coast thing to washride. Now everyone does it over there too.

"Throughout the race you could hear the referee in the chase boat screaming at Hanalei. "Lane 5 get back in your lane". "Lane 5 get back in your lane or you will be disqualified". All this as Brad was weaving Hanalei into the ghost lanes in between buoys. GWN, if you are going to have ghost lanes, IMMEDIATELY disqualify teams for crossing into that area."

I agree. Your rules are clear. Any team that crosses into that area gets DQ'd. A-division steerspeople don't make mistakes. One warning and then DQ them. Or at least slap a 5-second time penalty on them. It looks like they just simply ignored you. Toothless Lions.

Not quite true...some of us have always loved wash-riding.

There is no question that it happens.
There are several crews that did not have any help getting into their respective final,
others certainly had the ride in heats and finals.

I found a picture of GWN during the A-final

A DQ was definently not needed in the 'A' final at the island. Mayfair was an incredible 1.55 and Hydros and Hanalei definently rode some wash. It is part of the sport and everyone does it. Also when Mayfair is going that fast you can't help but hop on.

I don't know if Hanalei wold have beat the seniors in a different lane.

Like everyone else I look forward to seeing Mayfair race False Creek. But after seeing Mayfair race this year and how hard they have been working. I do not see False Creek matching Mayfair.

Also at World's last year, maybe it wasn't their best team, but False Creek looked horrible. They were beat the USA, that's embaressing that only our premier team couldn't beat the USA. The seniors and grandmasters killed the USA.

it is part or racing get with it or you will be left behind.

I agree it is a part of the sport. But when an organization (GWN) prides itself on developing anti-washriding (or at least reduction) improvements like the ghost lane. It is frustrating to see them not enforce this rule and ALLOW teams to go in there without penalty. GWN created a "no-fly zone" and then proceeded to allow teams to go in there. Reduce your fees and remove the ghost lanes if you're not going to enforce it.

did you know you can view your credit score for free?.... get over it.. 2nd place wash riders still get to lick the lions balls.. mayfair is gwn.. what do we care as long as we win?

i believe it was the same thing last year at GWN, Hanalei rode MGD's wash (i think, can't remember)

"mayfair is gwn"

Good point. Notice how many Mayfair paddlers were wearing inflatable lifejackets? The same lifejackets that GWN told everyone they cannot use? Several people asked if inflatable lifejackets could be used over the weekend and we consistently heard "no".

I was in the A-FInal, heard the warnings and asked one of the officials after the event. Lane 5 was not out of their lane, but were hugging the buoys. No penalty without leaving the lane, just a warning to let you know they are watching you.

I agree that you can't penalize someone for staying in their lane and hugging the buoys to catch the bus. You are just fooling yourself that you're better than you really are and cheating better crews out of their deserved rewards. But it was nice to see that GWN was at least on to their antics.

They were definitely allowed, not just to Mayfair. It seems to depend on who you ask - I guess the last minute change in policy did not get communicated to all volunteers. We named our inflatables Kandy and Sindy.

"Also at World's last year, maybe it wasn't their best team, but False Creek looked horrible. They were beat the USA, that's embaressing that only our premier team couldn't beat the USA. The seniors and grandmasters killed the USA."

Second place in the 500 mixed at worlds is horrible? They also won the 2000 mixed (yeah, yeah, USA not in it but would still have been at least 2nd).
Even the great eastern Premier teams have lost to the USA, two out of three in Berlin in fact (1000 and 500). The FCRCC men's team did a respectable job in Sydney, times were real fast over there, the USA had a great regatta, sometimes a team just clicks, the Brits were stoked (we saw their video remember?) and coming off European championship wins just like the Slovaks. Throw in two super fast Asian teams (China and the Phillipines)with a short travel time and the home field advantage to the Aussies and there you go, a stacked deck against a team that had a late start getting it together.

And comparing seniors is ludicrous, the CDN senior boat was stacked with Premier level eastern paddlers and pumped to take on China for one last hurrah (who didn't show) while the US team had its best seniors in their Premier boat.

I can see FCRCC putting your crap up on the locker room wall right now.

the point of ghost lanes isn't a "no-fly-zone," it's just to create more room in between teams. This discourages washriding cause you have to go farther to find a better wave. If you have a good steers person, or the other team is hugging a side of their lane, then you can still get it. If a team hits all their can's then there's no time penalty, they kept their lane. I really don't see a problem. Why rag on a team cause they had a good steers person? A cox isn't just the fat guy who yells at the team, they're an important part of the race, and should be an important part of crew selection.

If you want to make it harder to ride, you hafta add more buoys, which means everyone hasta pay higher fees, and it also makes it less exciting and dynamic imo.

Enough with sour grapes already!
Hanalei are consistently good enough to make it to the A Final. I'm pretty sure they placed ahead of the Hydros in Pickering. At the Island they were seeded 3rd (behind Mayfair and Hydros) after Saturdays heats which, if you look at the heat results, they led all the way and won with open water. They were seeded 3rd and placed 3rd in the final. 'Nuff said.
Okay wash riding whiners- back to you now.

Racing at the Island is full of wash riding. There is no way to avoid it.

Come up with a good team strategy and anything can happen.

Congratulations to all the teams that raced. The lion comments have been funny. Mayfair definantely unleashed the lion this weekend. It will be exciting to watch them and all of the other great teams at NTT/Canadian Championships. Funny how people name their life jackets.

I normally would not come on here to defend my actions or those of a Hanalei. Here's the deal to set the record straight. Yes I got four warnings for being close to the lane markers. At no point did i go out of my lane. At no point was i in a ghost lane. In fact I recieved all four warnings in the span of 100m. The ref's were very good at seeing it and did there job to make sure it was not going to happen the whole race. Good offcials there at GWN. As for Hanalei, i realize that any time they do well everyone's going to give me credit which is absolutly wrong!!!! I did not improve there time by four seconds in that final. Perhaps it was the crazy prcatices Hollins is doing to improve them over the last two weeks. Also they had there best race when it counts. In the A final. They are a very fast crew and deserve respect. Not to mention in that A final they were ranked three and got the bronze. In fact that final ended up exactly how everyone was seeded. Perhaps they are faster then the seniors and finaly proved it this weekend. Thanks and good luck to everyone at Nationals.
Cheers