At the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival 2008

Dedication

Farewell, our fellow paddlers

We may not have known you personally, but we felt the loss at your abrupt departure.


Chee Wei Cheng, 20
Jeremy Goh Tze Xiong, 24
Stephen Loh Soon Ann, 31
Poh Boon San, 27
Reuben Kee En Rui, 23



We shall hold you in our memories.

Regatta Experience

River Regatta 2007

Finally, the River Regatta was over.

It was an exciting and tiring weekend. But the results was something we can be proud of as a team.

Although we fell short of the goal of getting into finals, we still have a lot to celebrate.

We had one team getting into the semi finals. In terms of timing, we have shown great improvement. The mixed race combined with the TP alumni girls was the highlight. It was not just that we performed beyond our expectations in that race, but rather, it gave everyone in the boat a taste of what we are really capable of achieving, and what a race run should really be like.

Looking in retrospective at where we were at the beginning of the year and how badly we performed in the June race, we have come a long way. And we have seen the results of the hard work everyone put in this the second half of this year.

Nonetheless, we still made some mistakes in the race. Screwed up a couple of things. We shall learn from there and get better.

There is still a lot of room for improvement. However, we shall celebrate what we have achieved so far. Next year, we will aim higher!

Getting Ready

Ready for the day

Armed with paddles and new tees we don
Off to the bridge after a quick launch

Waiting for the sound of the horn
We so excited and ready to 'cheong'

Months of training we spent so long
This is the time to prove them wrong

Every stroke we row is swift and strong
Never give up, we push on and on

A race can turn us shagged and forlorn
We must stay calm, stick to the norm

Friends and supporters cheered us along
We synchronise our strokes like a song

Whatever fears we have, let them be gone
Whatever drive and power, bring it on

The last bit can leave us breathless and conked
Crossed that line, the hero in us is born

Here's another song I like very much, "Together we are one" by Delta Goodrem

Never give up, never give in!

Here's a song by Brian McKnight "Win", dedicated to all in the amazing & extraordinary FLUS team!


Dark is the night, I can weather the storm.
Never say die, I've been down this road before.
I'll never quit, I'll never lay down.
See, I've promised myself that I'd never let me down, so,

I'll never give up, never give in.
Never let a ray of doubt slip in.
And if I fall, I'll never faint,
I'll just get up and try again.
Never lose hope, never lose faith,
There's much too much at stake,
Upon myself I must depend.
I'm not looking for plays to show, I'm gonna win.

No stopping now, there's still a way to go.
Ohh, someway, somehow.
Whatever it takes, I know, I'll never quit, no, no.
I'll never go down.
I'll make sure they remember my name.
A hundred years from now.

I'll never give up, never give in.
Never let a ray of doubt slip in.
And if I fall, I'll never faint,
I'll just get up and try again.
Never lose hope, never lose faith,
There's much too much at stake,
Upon myself I must depend.
I'm not looking for plays to show, I'm gonna win.

When it's all said and done,
My once in a lifetime won't be back again.
Now is the time, to take a stand.
Here is my chance, that's why,

I'll never give up, never give in.
Never let a ray of doubt slip in.
And if I fall, I'll never faint,
I'll just get up and try again.
Never lose hope, never lose faith,
There's much too much at stake,
Upon myself I must depend.
I'm not looking for plays to show, I'm gonna win.

I'm gonna win.

One more week

Gee, it's one more week to Regatta. This means this Sunday is the last day we will have training. Hmm... 4 months went by so quickly. It seems just so recently we had our race in July. We've trained considerably harder than last time, and I believe we've improved since then. Of course, we can't afford to be complacent. If we can improve, the other competitors can too. So we can be certain it's going to be a tough challenge. But what's important is that we have to be able to beat ourselves. We have to be better than before, always improving forward. Our 4 months of training will be tested in less than 1.5 minutes. So we'll just have to give it our all, so that there'll be no regret.

Anyway, race always brings out the adrenaline and excitement, and it's no different with me this time. But amid those excitement, it's important to remember to keep calm enough to row together. After all, dragon boating is a team sport.

I like this quote taken from Uniquely Singapore postcard:
In the blazing sun, I saw twenty hearts beat as one

Rain version :P
In the pouring rain, twenty movements blur into one