TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—If your paddling team trains for hours every day for a single race and in your first heat, you got beaten by blade-length, you become mere spectators of a race to victory you could have also competed in.
Not, when you join the Bohol Sandugo Ultimate Dragon Boat Festival, which would be taking the calm waters of Miramar Wharf, behind Dauis Church this August 17-18, according to Bohol Paddlers Association Incorporated (BPAI) lifetime president Dr. Theodore Dumaluan.
First introduced by BPAI in the Philippine Dragon Boat Racing circuit last year, the Ultimate Dragon Boat Race is an endurance non-stop seven heats race, which allows fidgety race teams who fumble in their first heat, to get another crack at winning, by doing better in the next heat, and the next.
To be a festival type of race in 4 heats with the 200 meter distance and another 3 heats in 300 meter distance, paddling teams would have to dig hard with their paddles for a total distance of 1.7 kilometers and keep a short return- to-the-starting-line time to be ready when the next heat is released, before stabbing paddles again in tempo with the booming drums.
A race in multiple categories, a standard team of 10 paddlers sitting side by side, a drummer and a steersman, joins the race without any reserve paddler allowed to continue the race in behalf of another.
Said to be the epic race for paddlers, the Ultimate Race has had very positive reviews from teams which joined in last year’s race seasoned for the annual Sandugo Festival of friendship in Bohol.
It was said to be a painful race, even for trained paddlers, but it was the race with the most fun, shared Dr. Dumaluan, citing experiences of teams joining last year’s continuous circuit format race.
And it is not actually about the race, but what a person becomes during the process of team training and joining races and paddling events, the doctor paddler stressed.
Like dragon boat events, it is not all about recreation, as it evolves itself from mere battle to be the fastest, but for every paddler to master self-discipline, sportsmanship and professionalism, adds BPAI vice president Aster Pocot.
In fact, in Bohol, BPAI has used paddling and its training and team-building activities as a venue to foster a supportive community promoting mental health, youth development, environment protection and preservation and community service in rescue operations.
This year, with the BPAI-organized dragon boat festival race in Bohol, the race still opens to teams which can signify that they have trained enough to survive the grueling 1.7 kilometers of sheer paddling determination, has already the commitment of paddling teams from Cagayan, Dumaguete, Manila, Cebu and the defending Ultimate Dragon Boat Race 2023 Champions: Calbayog City, in Samar.
