Beautiful weather brought in a bounty of boaters and spectators to the 8th Annual Lakelse Regatta earlier this month.
Held at the Furlong Bay Boat Launch, Lakelse Lake, on Saturday, Sept.7, 2013, the all day event is being hailed as “a great success”, said Lakelse Dragon Boat Society president Carole Marcellin.
“Thanks to the 2013 Regatta Co-Coordinators, Kirsten Earl and Jean Alexander and their awesome committee and volunteers, for all their hard work and dedication, to make the event a huge success,” she said.
Terrace Pipes and Drums kicked off the opening ceremonies before a noon start for the races, which featured eight teams this year – one each from Terrace, Smithers and Prince Rupert and 5 teams from Kitimat.
After the Finals for the mixed races, there was a fun 'Ladies of the Lake Mix-Up Race', A ladies only race, where names were entered into a ballot box and randomly selected and then placed on a team. Each team was comprised of women paddlers from Smithers, Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Terrace, making it a true mix up race.
This was followed by the 'Guts & Glory Race', a gruelling 1000 meter race where qualification was determined by the best single race times from the Heats or Qualification Round.
After the 'Guts & Glory' Race, the Zone 10, BC Senior Games, Ladies Dragon Boat Team, The 'Lakelse Dragons', had one last paddle together. The team came 1st in B Division, at the Games in August in Kamloops – the first time that Zone 10 had entered a dragon boat team.
Following the closing ceremonies and awards presentation, was Hawkair’s popular BBQ for all participants and volunteers.
First in the Regatta Finals went to Kitimat’s Tragically Quick, who won the ‘Hing Ho’ Trophy.
First place in ‘Ladies of the Lake’ Mix-Up Race was The ‘Dragon Dragons’ who won a prize of champagne and chocolates. And in the ‘Guts & Glory’ Race Tragically Quick also took the top spot, with a trophy sponsored by the Flying Fish and presented by Glen Saunders.
“We look forward to the 2014 dragon boat season and meeting up with our dragon boat friends from Smithers, Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Terrace, for the camaraderie and friendly dragon boat racing,” said Marcellin. “Paddles up!”