Dragon Boat Festival, Szeged, Hungary, 4-5th September

I am back from the first dragon boat festival which I participated in. It was a two day long programme organised in Szeged which is a nice town south of Budapest. I was there once before for a computer linguistics conference back in 2005 but never did I think that I would come back for a dragon boat race 5 years later.

Well, dragons and fish do get along and they attract pretty much the same sort of audience.While the teams were busy paddling on the river Tisza:

the huge crowd of idlers was also cheering for the participants of the open-air fish cooking competition on the riverbank. This international event nortures the gastronomic traditions of the region and the delicious fish dishes are protected by the dragons gliding smoothly through the water.

Day 1:

We left for Szeged at around 6.15 on Saturday morning and eventually it was Kata driving me. We met Viki and Kwame downtown and had breakfast together before we would start the trip. We were supposed to have a meeting in Szeged at 8.30 and we got there just in time:


The team is actually made up of two groups: "Fekete Gyöngy" aka. "Black Pearl":



and "Friss Fekete Karibok", i.e Fresh Black Caribs. The more experienced guys with a longer training background belong to the Black Pearl team while the Caribs just started to search for these pearls this summer :)

Black Pearl were involved in more races, and whenever they were on water:


we were cheering for them. Vi skapade stämning :)

Our first race was scheduled for 17.30 and that was my favourite two kilometres. For me, the most fascinating part was while approaching the boat, picking the right paddle and getting into the dragon. You are moved by a bunch of mixed emotions ranging from anxiety, tension to enthusiasm and a modified state of consciousness throughout the whole race. It was a long time ago when I took part in a sports competition last but it was definitely worth reminding myself of this set of complex emotions that are generated. Out of 10 teams, we came 7th which I am very proud of as most of the competing teams have been training together for years. But Black Pearl came 2nd, within 10:16:94. Well done, guys!

Lessons learnt:

• 2 kilometres is never gonna be less that 2000 meters. I'd better accept this fact.

• Paddling upstream on a flooded river does not make life easier. We have our practices in a smallish bay where there is only a slight difference between the directions if there is any.
  

• Getting the boat moving from a standstill upstream at the right time requires a sophisticated start technique and the most directed concentration. I think there is room for improvement there so we will definitely work on our starts.
  

The technique we usually use for our start includes a total of 25-35 strokes before we "settle out." The first five strokes are strong and powerful done in unison. The essential thing about them is that they are not for speed. They are for strength to get the boat up and moving from a still position. The next 20-30 strokes accelerate the boat and once the racing speed is reached, the crew then settles out and maintains a set of long, strong strokes.

Day 2:

We did go out a bit despite all the warnings from the coach. Just to chat and have a couple of drinks. The second day's programme was also intensive with the women's 150 metres. It was a race with 4 rounds, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Hell yeah, I enjoyed them so much. I love short distance, I like to see what I need to accomplish. I really dislike the loneliness of the long distance runner/paddler :)

After all, we ended up with a bronze medal which is my first and so far most precious acknowledgement in this sport. But the best is yet to come :)

For more pictures, click here.