Montreal DragonFly

Ciao!

What a crazy weekend!!!  And you know what?  I wouldn’t have changed a thing!  Great work DRAGONFLY!!!  We beat all are record times for this season at the Rawdon DB Festival…  from here, we can only get BETTER & STRONGER!  Here are our times over the weekend: 500m - 2:19:31 min, 250 m - 1:06:07 min and 500m - 2:21.41 min.  Most excellent!  I have a feeling that we’ll be going back next year…  close to Montreal…  nice small venue…  and beach to finish-off the day!  What else can-you ask for?  Oh wait…  bubbly wine for winners of the first three position in each category…  we were 3rd in division D out of F.  Bonus, we beat Jade Dragons!

And to celebrate the great season that we have up to now…  we had our annual Montreal DragonFly BBQ at Nancis’…  lots of food…  great company…  crazy laughs…  & tons of memories!  Thanks to all who came and made this day most EXCELLENT!  Leslie, you’ll have to make it next time!!!  You were missed!  And you better grab Melissa who went MIA on us!

Obviously, for every event, we have tons of photos…  Enjoy!

DDDRRRRAAAAGGGGGONNNNFFFFLLLLLYYYYYY!

Nancy

Ciao guys!

Check-out the pics from the Montreal International DB Festival 2009.

Ciao guys!

Have a look at the pic.  Notice anything?

Melissa made me send you this pic for tonight’s practice…  and yes, this was our main focus of practice…  QUICKER EXITS!  I know I know I know…  this was just us during our warm-up on our way to starting line…  but, still, it doesn’t look good.  Like Melissa said during practice…  as everybody exits at different rate…  it slows down the boat till the very last paddle is out.  Keep that in mind!  At tonight’s practice, we did sectional paddling where every second row, the paddler behind would put their paddle vertical behind your bench to block you whenever you pull to far back…  we all did it and realize that we all pulled too far back…  which makes no point since we’re not pulling anymore water at that point…  Remember what Melissa said…  we want the good stuff…  and that’s what’s in front of you!  Towards the end of practice, it made a huge difference when we exit all at the same time and paddled in synch…  the boat was moving so smoothly and also, it avoids the boat from sinking.   By reaching too far back, you’re not reaching fast enough the front to pull more water and gives a chance for the boat to sink…  and we all know that it sucks to paddle a sinking boat!  We feel heavy and sluggish!  Anyways, we gotta work on that.

 Also, at the end of practice, Melissa started making us work on our turns for the Quebec Cup 2km races.  During the turns, for now, we’ll be paddling the exact way as we do now…  unless she calls “PULL”.  When she says that during a turn, this command is only for the first 3 paddlers on the left and the back 3 paddlers on the right.  You guys will start paddling in a 45 degree angle while still keeping pace with the rest of the boat.  For the whole boat, during the turns, the right side has to focus on long reaches while the left side had to focus on very DEEP strokes to get the boat moving.  For those that were at practice tonight knows how heavy the boat feels during a turn…  we need to focus on this to get the boat moving as fast as possible out of the turn…  and once that we’re out of the turn…  I know that this is crazy talk but it must be done…  Melissa will call for a pick-up of 10 strokes right away to get to race pace again.

 For all those that haven’t experienced a 2km race during the Quebec Cup with 3 turns to do during this race with 10 teams at the same time, I’ll strongly suggest that you check-out the Canadian DragonBoat Championship which will be held from 22-23 of August at the Bassin Olympic.  All the top teams in Canada will be there…   and for them to qualify to make it to the Wold DB Championship in Macau in 2010…  they all have to do the 2km race with turns.  This should be quite a show to see!  And also give you a better idea what to expect for Quebec Cup in September!

 Anyways, enjoy the weekend…  get rested…  we have practice on MONDAY!

 Nancy

Ciao!

If you haven’t noticed it, the team still hasn’t register for the Rawdon DB Festival yet.  We’re still missing two girls to be qualified as a mixed team.  We need girls on both side.  So, if you know of anyone who’s an experience woman paddler who would love to join-us in Rawdon, give Vicky or I a shout!

Till then, we’re still trainning hard to reach our personal goals!

 Nancy

Ciao Dragonflyers!!!

 A few days ago, I was contacted by a representative from CTV who wanted to interview me for her news report on parking fees at Parc Jean-Drapeau…  by the time, that I got a hold of her, the report was already on air but, she managed to get a hold of a bunch of people…

For those that are interested, check-out the CTV report on it.  I don’t know if it helped our cause…  but, it’s definitely a start.

 Nancy

Ciao Montreal DragonFlyers!

On 12SEP2009, Leslie will be participating at the Dragon Boat race & Festival which is being held by the Cedars Cancer Institute.  She strongly encourages us to partipate…  it’ll be loads of fun and also for a great cause.  If you can’t make-it but want to make a difference, you can also give a donation and support Leslie who’s registered on their site…  search for Leslie Walker-Rice or her team “The CanSupport Dragon Slayers”.

 So, check-out their site for more details!

 Nancy

Ciao team!

 Another great practice…  Though, we didn’t get to go on the water…  that didn’t stop us from having an “indoor” practice instead!  Gotta luv this team!  We didn’t wait around like the other teams…  we took charge…  got first dibbs for the indoor facility and went for it!   We got a great hour of practice focusing on mostly techniques…  Melissa & Kevin giving us feedback.  At next practice, remember all the tips that we got…  focus on it and work on it.  Next practice is Monday, 20JUL2009, from 19:00-20:00.  Don’t be late!!!  Show-up early… don’t make the rest of the team wait for you…  that would just SUCK!  Also, take initiative…  show-up early and work on your technique before practice.

 Have a good weekend!  I’m on vacation!!!!  Yay!

Nancy

Another great practice!  Though, we lost Winnie due to nausea, Ramy to fever and Mikael who needed to catch a bus for NYC towards the end of practice.  Marc-Daniel gave us a great practice…  Thanks Melissa for finding us a great sub coach! 

• We’ve determined that our starts will be 5-15-5.  Since 7-15-5 wasn’t good for us…  the start was too slow to reach race pace.  We’re better off with 5-15-5.
• Note that the first 5 strokes have to be long (reach-it out) and DEEP to be able to LIFT the boat.
• Note that the following 15 strokes, you don’t need to bend your back…  it’s more rotation and increasing pace to reach race pace.
• I don’t know about the rest of you…  but, I really enjoyed the pressure of being pushed or feeling the rush from the 8 pack in the back…  which helped us in the front to focus and increase pace without losing control.  I hope that we’ll get to keep this!
• The last two 250m pieces were eye openners for the most of us where the pacers (first 3 rows) went to the back while the back 3 rows went to the front.  I hope that with this experience, we now have a better understanding of the different water resistence flowing through out the boat and the different roles in the boat.
• Like MD mentionned during practice, if you’re starting to feel aching pain/muscle, it’s time to focus on proper technique then strenght/power.  Do the SUPERMAN posture!  Keep that in mind!
• When the coach calls for a pick-up, it doesn’t mean to bundle-up and lose your reach.  It’s the total opposite!  Reach-it out and do the Superman!

Well, I have to say that it’s starting to look a lot better!  We might actually kick some ass at the upcoming festival!  Remember that we have practice on Monday, 22JUN2009 and Friday, 26JUN2009.  Every practice counts!  Don’t be late!

 Have a good weekend!

 Nancy

Ciao!

 The team’s next fundraiser event is two nights at the Comedy Works (02JUL2009 and 09JUL2009).  All team members will be selling tickets for this events!  Most of the proceits goes to the team and enrollements to dragonboat festivals.  Show support by atttending to this event!  Hope to see-you there!  Here are the details:

Event: Fundraiser at Comedy Works

Dates: 02JUL2009 & 09Jul2009

Time: 8:30pm-10:10pm

Address: 1238 Bishop, Montreal (corner of Ste-Catherines)

Cost: 12$/per/night

For tickets: contact any member of the Montreal DragonFly team.

Ciao!

 Vicky’s company are going to LaRonde on 04JUL2009 and wants to know if you’re interested in joinning her.  If so, contact her.  Check below for details:

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Hi All,

I’m going to LaRonde July 4th and planning to attend the fireworks as well.  It’ll be Australia that night.

If you’d like to go for the whole day(11am-10pm) and have silver seats fireworks I can get the tix from work for $48 for adults or $30 for kids.  All prices includes tax.

The $25 deal for after 5pm is sold out for that day=(  Sorry about that.

If you want to just goto Laronde and just watch in there w/o seats I can get tickets at CAA for $33 for adults and $22 for kids all tax in.  Regular prices are $44 and $29 respectively.

Let me know if you want to come and which tix you want^_^

Cheers,

Vicky