Aquaholics, Bluebloods make splash at Dragon Boat Festival

AQUAHOLICS and Bluebloods delivered strong performances when the Chinese Arrival Dragon Boat Festival was held at the Chaguaramas Boardwalk on October 11 and 12.

Many races were held over the two-day festival, along with traditional dragon dances.

Teams competed over various distances, including 200-metre races, 500m and 1,000m.

The teams demonstrated their sprinting ability in the 200m events, with many of the races going down to the wire.

Aquaholics and Bluebloods of Queen’s Royal College had a field day in the shorter distance. Aquaholics won the premier open 200m, premier mixed 200m and the premier women’s 200m events.

In the premier open, Aquaholics battled against Bluebloods with the former finishing first in 53.35 seconds. Bluebloods were a close second in 55.57.

Bluebloods were the fastest in the Under-16 open standard race and the Under-16 200m small event.

Aquaholics and Bluebloods both won 1,000m events also.

In the premium mixed race, Aquaholics finished in a time of seven minutes, 01.04 seconds (7:01.04) ahead of Vanguard.

Bluebloods crushed the field in the Under-21 open category with victory in 6:00.48. Pres (San Fernando) Vikings were a distant second, stopping the clock in 6:49.70 and further back was ASJA Boys (San Fernando) in 7:30.26.

St Joseph’s Convent’s (St Joseph) Blue Dragons took top spot in the Under-21 women’s race in 7:24.14, St Augustine Girls’ High School’s Sea Serpents were second (7:33.44) and St Joseph’s Convent’s (San Fernando) Drakainas finished third in 8:02.61.

Other teams winning 200m races were Pres Vikings (Under-21 open); Vanguard (premium open); Holy Name Convent’s Water Dragons (Under-21 women); Dragon Warriors (premium mixed); St Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain’s Wave Breakers (Under-16 girls); and Caciques (senior A open).

Claiming the top places in the 500m events were Sea Serpents (Under-21 women); Bluebloods (premium open); Team Dragon Fly (senior A open); and Titans (premium mixed).

In an exhibition race featuring Chinese teams, Chinese Exhibition (1:00.25) won ahead of TT China Times (1:01.28) and Chao Enforcement (1:05.12). It was an event for beginners and non-competitive athletes.