2008 TEMPE RECAP, courtesy of Tempe Manager, Galen!

Wow! There is nothing more I can say about this weekend except “wow”.

Posted by space_dragon at Monday, April Fools, 2008

hahahah! Psyche!

The weekend started off great as Friday was a beautiful day for traveling. Most of us who were driving, had time to stop off at the outlet mall on the way out there and pick up a few things. (All for the team of course…like a coach bag that could be worn at the paddler’s party). As a result, some of us arrived a *tad* late to Friday’s dinner. Which wouldn’t have been a big deal if the planner knew what he was doing, but he forgot to ask if it was 21 and over, so part of our team had to relocated to a different dining location. Post dinner a celebratory “Space Dragons, Welcome to the Desert” party in the hot tub ensued and we got ready for a big day of racing the next day.

After tossing and turning all night long, Tourny time finally arrived and it was time to show the dragon boat community the brand new, shinny 2008 edition Space Dragons. Ripped up and ready to go, the blue team broke out of the gates and showed that the mighty Space Dragons were not to be trifled with, w/ 2 straight 1^st place finishes. Not to be out done, Red team (below) pulled their own weight and had thrilling neck and neck races with strong teams such as KG and Wasabi, w/ a 1st & 2nd place finish.

The Men’s team came out strong and showed everyone that we were all well “above average”. While the ladies proved, once again, that they indeed are the Crown Jewels of the Space Dragons. But enough about the paddler’s party (below), on with the racing…

The highlight of the weekend paddling, for me, was calling the 250. Unfortunately, me on the bow seemed to raise the stern just a lil bit and cause us to plow a bit more than we are used to (see pic below). But rest assured…your caller could kick their callers butt…in a hot dog eating contest.

Aside from that, we drew some tough draws in the Sunday semis (where only 1^st place moves on for mixed & women; 1^st and 2^nd for Open). We finished 2^nd in both mixed races & women: mighty San Diego squeaked past the Red team & women, & the Canadians slightly edged the Blue team.

(special shout-out & thanks to LARDies Andrea, Huay, Tiff, Yonnie, & Cathleen, who joined our women for SpLARD reunions!)

Our Men’s team was able to represent and make it to the Open Finals after a thrilling semifinal w/ our neighbors LARD & KG (Space in lane 2 below).

In the Open finals, according to every volunteer/dockhand/and possibly Brian K, it was the most exciting and closest race of all Tempe. Our strong start allowed Space Dragons to pull ahead of the pack for a full 250 before the methodical power of our fellow competitors caught up at the very end.

Official race results can be found at http://www.azdba.com/

…a great start to our season.

But that is just half the story…We came to Tempe with our normal goals of fun, fitness, and friends. We’ve left tighter than ever and we can add a new “F”…the one for the Space Dragon Family. In our new flock we have now had our sister team paddle– Ripple Effect’s Anna and Kurt; UCLA’s Lisa, Chris, Daniel, Hou, and Wadda; SoCow’s Stephanie; and last, but not least, from our very own POSERS, Kameron, Samantha, and Stephen. We had new paddlers join us this weekend for their very first tournament Charlie, Christine, David, Devant, Jackie, Jeremy, Mayana, and Tran. Our groupies Carol, Jen, Jimmy, John, and Tim were awesome as always. This spirit of team unity, bonding, and tightness is what I look forward to during my 3 hr commute to the South Bay every week. I’m bummed that it’ll be another 2 weeks until I see you all and I’m missing you all already.

Finally, want to give major thanks to all those who made Tempe happen with only minor hitches. Rebecca for finding us a place to party on Friday night. Our steers and callers: AJ, Emily, Jackie, Janice, Joe, Pearl, Samantha, Wade and ME!!!!! Denise for giving up her room at the hotel so that we could house more people and for providing equipment transportation and logistics. Marina, Caesar, and Joe for providing us with nutritious sammiches (and some ‘roids in the non tomato and lettuce ones). Joe and Yonnie for going to Costco to keep us hydrated in the hot sun while enjoying rye chips. Pearl for helping run our team and keeping the Tempe manager in check and on the ball. Wade for getting all 20 of our women worked up and then sweaty and satisfied in under 3 minutes. Emily for helping arrange the rooms. Finally, major kudos have to go to Emily, Joe, Pearl, and Wade for late night seating charts, general coaching, motivation, and not quite realizing that being on staff for Space Dragons should not equate to a second job.

Don’t forget! Now that the tournament is over…Joe doesn't say "No" ...

Joe says “YES!!!!”

Who wants to join Galen in some Brownchickenbrowncow? Anyone? Hey how come there aren’t even Crickets? *SIGH*

Check our Picassa Album soon for more pictures from the event!