Aquaholics training achieves perfection

AQUAHOLICS achieved perfection last weekend at the Tobago Dragon Boat Festival, sweeping all their categories with relative comfort at the Pigeon Point Heritage Park. Clinching six titles, Aquaholics bettered their performance from 2017 when they won four divisions. Their victorious races included three Premier Mixed distances (200m, 500m and 2000m), Premier Open distances (200m and 500m) and the Premier All Female 200m.

Aquaholics were keenly challenged by the likes of Tobago-based Oceanus and Trailblazers, but experience, skill and fitness saw them deserved winners.

The water at the regatta was choppy which made it harder for all the paddlers to work in tandem.

However, that gave Aquaholics an ideal opportunity to capitalise and display what they learnt during their rigorous training routines in anticipation of uncertain conditions. According to team captain Stefan Muiznieks, their preparation played a key part in their successes in Tobago. “(Times) are always unpredictable due to the conditions of the open water course,” said Muiznieks.

“However, with this in mind, we achieved the best times that we could have in the water conditions. The team has become more mindful of the effectiveness of the type of strokes needed for the different water conditions.”

As one of the youngest and fastest growing sports in the country, the TT Dragon Boat Federation and several clubs have put emphasis on youth participation, as evident by the number of participating secondary schools at the Tobago meet.

Hillview College’s HVC Hyperion, who train with Aquaholics under the guidance of coach Jeff Ng Chow, showed their training is not in vain, copping the Under 21 open 200m title.

The Aquaholics captain believes young people are gravitating to the sport which continues to grow locally.

Muiznieks said: “This sport is all about teamwork and working together in a very competitive environment. I think it’s a ripple effect that starts with the juniors and school teams (Under-21) and their parents. Overall awareness is key to growing dragon boat in Trinidad and Tobago. As more people are interested, new teams are forming and current teams are expanding.”

Muiznieks said there is no rest for Aquaholics who will continue training off the Cocorite waters as they prepare for the Chinese Bicentennial Limited (CBL) Regatta in October.