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‘Dragons on Demand’ succeed to become ‘Dragons on the Podium’!

What a way to start the season: the PERFECT way to start the season in fact! Bling-bling all around!

Sunday September 18 heralded the Ryde Aquatic Festival, an annual event staged by the local council. Our major interest was the dragon boat challenge races, but there was also a fun-run plus bands & lots of entertainment for the kiddies.

The newly named ‘IBM Dragons on Demand’, oozing with new faces, excited by the challenge of paddle over river were a very stylish & professional looking crew, the on-demand colours looking very snazzy indeed in our new uniforms!
We competed in the corporate / community category, against 14 other teams.

Our first heat was the first race ever for some of the team, adrenalin surging us onwards to blitz all opposition. In fact, when the horn sounded the end of the race, a complete 180 degree turn was needed to see the other teams from our heat! We were also triumphant in the second heat, but the win was a lot closer, conveniently removing any cockiness our previous win had bestowed upon us!

We qualified for the ‘A’ final. This was it! We were pumped & ready to go. The trophy was enormous & we wanted it to be ours! Greg put on an impromptu show in the cold knee-high water as all teams were waiting to board the boats, giving new recruit, John, a lesson in paddling technique. It was a picturesque sight as the afternoon sun was dancing on the water behind them. Maybe this was also intentioned to bedazzle our opposition or maybe make them wonder where the guys’ boat was!

As the starting horn sounded time appeared to stop, breathing was a luxury that could wait until the race was over. It was all about the paddling, all about paddling as one, in time and FAST! We did it, we won & we were elated.

The award ceremony was quite an event. The IBM Dragons on Demand were naturally close to the stage & when our name was announced, we ran to the stage with enormous smiles plastered all over our faces! We each received a medal & then the most enormous trophy was presented to our mighty captain Cindy who is not at all enormous! It was nearly as tall as her but she still managed to hold it high with pride.

Our 15 minutes of fame was milked quite successfully with local media coverage & a plethora of cameras snapping the team, the medals & our friend the trophy!

It was impressive to see 2 earlier wins by the IBM team as shields on the trophy’s side, a 3rd soon to be added to the honour roll. This was a wonderful event, a wonderful day (a real treat & novelty to compete in lovely sunny weather!) and a wonderful feeling of camaraderie.

The team will next be competing in Melbourne in November at the Australian Corporate Games so I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful time there & hopefully some success on the water.

For more information on joining IBM Dragons On Demand, please contact Evelyn Lim.

Ryde Aquatic Festival 2005 Paddlers:
Ajay Brar, Anne Wilkes, Anthony Felsbourg, Bang Duong, Cindy McCutcheon, Evelyn Lim, Frank Arraiza, Greg Zajaczkowski, Ian Agahari, Ingrid Sumargo, Jenny O'Hearn, John Carroll, John He, Julie Mungomery, Kaye Mendez, Mark Czajkowski, Peter Marcinasko, Rebecca Wilkes, Sam Lawrence, Scott Le, Tony Farrell, Ursula Zajaczkowski