The Siargao Dragons stamped their class by clinching four gold medals on the way to winning the overall title in the recent 2nd International Dragon Boat Festival at the Baywalk Area in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
The Surigao del Norte paddlers displayed great teamwork and timing to rule the first three races in the 10-man standard boat, setting the tone to the country’s impressive showing in the international meet.
The pride of Surigao won the women’s 500-meter, men’s 500-meter, and mixed 500-meter much to the delight of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Board members headed by Chairman Richard Bachmann who witnessed the opening day of the competitions.
The Siargao women’s paddlers went off to a good start and never looked back, leaving its rival in the opening stretch before maintaining the distance to end the race in just two minutes and 28.41 seconds beating Dragon Pilipinas (2:29.24) and Fire Dragons (2:34.46) which settled for second and third respectively.
Following up to the women’s win were the men’s team which, behind a late outburst, managed to take the top spot in the 500-meter race with a 2:08.28 time, narrowly beating beating Mr. Canoe (2:09.12) and Philippine Titan (2:09.57).
The team’s mixed squad made sure to join the winning run clocking 2:08.12 against Alliance of Masters (2:08.61) and Philippine Titan (2:09.33) before capping off the winning run with another gold medal in the mixed 200-meter event.
Siargao bested Alliance of Masters (54.35) and Hong Kong China Canoe (55.35) after finishing the race in just 53.58 seconds to bag its fourth gold
“Siargao is not only a force to reckon with in surfing but also in dragon boat. Against some of the strongest teams in Asia, masasabi nating hindi lang Siargao but all the local teams showed strength and determination to dominate the race,” said Philippine Canoe-Kayak Dragonboat Federation (PCKDF) president Len Escollante.
