RPDB

i just finished my final race with RPDB on Sunday. MR 500 was really a blast. i was really disappointed that we didn't beat NTU for the Tertiary gold on Saturday(my very last chance to do so). but on Sunday, we managed to clinch third position for the Men's Open Grand Final, beating all other teams except the National Team and, yes, NTU. though we still lost to NTU, by an even closer margin than the day before, i was really contented because everyone achieved the team's common goal and put up a really good fight.

i would like to thank the team for the excellent ride on the boat for the Men's Grand Final and also for all their efforts in making the results possible. without each and everyone of you, none of that could have happened. continue to train hard, because the longer you stay in 'hell', the faster you'll reach 'heaven' to reap the benefits.

i also hereby express my gratitude to JD for his guidance to the team. a soft-spoken and humble coach that has brought the team to even greater heights, continuing the legacy Steve and himself created for the team since the start of RPDB.

i wish the team all the best. in future, we won't be teammates, but opponents. i still want to see the team rise, but i guarantee you, i will train even harder from now to beat you guys if we ever meet on the race course. no hard feelings though. =]





i leave you all with a few quotes that may help in motivating yourselves to train harder:

"success comes only if there's HARDWORK and SHEER DETERMINATION"

"one's attitude determines two possible results, SUCCESS or FAILURE"

"you CONSERVE, you LOSE"

Thoughts In My Mind

my final race for RPDB, MR 500, is coming this weekend and i know i should just focus on it. but there's so many thoughts, outside Dragon Boat, running through my head right now.

things are not looking good. i have a really bad feeling about something, just hope that i'm wrong.

imy, A LOT.

sigh.

Fatigue

i'm feeling the effects of burnout, as a result of overtraining i guess.

recently, i made the decision, along with Christo, to paddle for RP and SAFSA; Louis paddling for SAFSA only. both teams are training on weekends, RP in the morning, SAFSA in the noon. and because both sides are starting to pick up the training volume and intensity, i'm getting more fatigued.

i'm just really worried that i won't be able to pull through this. but i really don't want to let go of either team. for now, i just got to keep finding motivations to keep me going.

it's POL-ITE and SDBF glory i'm looking for, and i will push hard enough to get them.

Beautiful

this picture may just be a very simple one to some. but as i was running through the whole Singapore River Regatta 2008 photo album in my harddisk and saw this picture, i had a very weird feeling, a very unexplainable one. feeling of friendship or nostalgia? i don't really know. like i said, it's unexplainable.

June

2nd time bringing the trophy back.


many months of training, 4 competitions, 4 medals for myself, all in the month of June.

in the last 2 weekends, the whole team managed to grab a whole bunch of medals. for myself, i got 1 silver from SIWF, 1 gold from POL-ITE 2009, 1 silver for the Tertiary Mixed team and 1 bronze for the National Championship Men's, both from SDBF.

SIWF was my first and last with RP. the silver medal was in fact a gold and we know damn well why.

POL-ITE 2009 was my final one, and i'm glad i could defend the title with my team. it was RPDB's third consecutive win in the POL-ITE games since snatching it from TP. i paddled in 2 of the 3 POL-ITE races.

for SDBF, we swept the POL-ITE category races in Men's, Women's and Mixed last year. unfortunately, SDBA took that category off this year; in fact, 2008 was the only year the POL-ITE category was featured. but in 2009, RPDB made history. the bronze medal from the National Championship Men's was the first, since we started in 2005. that was the best bronze medal i've ever gotten in my life. in that event itself, it was also one of the best ever. the Tertiary Mixed silver medal was one of my very few Mixed team medals, and i'm glad to have paddled.

all the 3 competitions mentioned above are all my last with RPDB. the feeling in those competitions were great; almost replicable to SRR 2008. thanks to everyone who made it possible; my coach, my teammates, GOD.

Singapore International Water Festival

we, RPDB, went for our most recent competition just yesterday at Marina Barrage. it was the Singapore International Water Festival, jointly organised by Singapore Polytechnic and PUB, and we competed in the Inter-POL-ITE Dragon Boat race.

due to delays in earlier races, we were rushed at the starting point to align our boats. the officials were impatient, they didn't want to delay further and they just started the race without bothering whether the boats were aligned or not. our boat, particularly, started off veering towards lane 6; we were in lane 5. that probably took away 2-3seconds, or more, from our race.

despite that, our coxwain was able to steer us back into our lane quickly enough and we won the set/ heat, beating SP by only 1sec, clocking 2:28min.

NP won by a clear margin amongst the other teams in their set/ heat, clocking a 2:27min to win the Inter-POL-ITE Men's category. we got 2nd and SP got 3rd.

our girls did really well, capturing Gold for the Inter-POL-ITE Women's category.

oh yes, i'm proud of my juniors. despite their resut, i want to applaud them for their efforts. they seemed calm and compose throughout most of their race. a good job to you guys and please remember what i said to you. continue working hard!

as a preview to the POL-ITE games, coming up on Friday (26/06/2009), we now know where we stand. i'm looking forward to compete side by side with the other Polytechnic and ITE teams, and vie for the Championship. pressure's on us, but we'll not succumb to it.

RPDB trip to Genting

alright, 20 of RPDB paddlers, of which 3 have graduated, went to Genting the week after MR500 - TO HAVE FUN!

we had a 22 or 23-seater bus to Genting, from Singapore, and a 21-seater back. the 21-seater bus, that is the SEX. it was just SPACIOUS! and we had our own mini screen TV. yes, each and every one of us.

anyway, it was great fun there. activities we did include: theme parks, SAFARI "DISCO", temple, arcade, 1RM per song Kbox, and many many more.

me, Sufi, Christo, Adrian and Qiplek went on the Space Shot like 4 times. it was GREAT!
*confession - the pimple on my ass burst after my first ride. (THAT'S ALL I'M GOING TO SAY)

Sufi, WenHui and WenJie got tricked into the Crazy Space Lab. it was a total waste of time, in which over 10 of us rushed for, from one end to the other of the theme park. the 3 of them came late, and we told them it was the greatest ride. three of them went in, six middle fingers came out. was it as good as we mentioned? you be the judge.

we made a whole lot of noise in many of the rides the the theme parks. we had the whole Euro Xpress to ourselves, and totally rocked First World Hotel!

alright, enough said. check out the pictures at Facebook! there's videos too!

MR500 2009

MR500 was a couple of weeks back - 28 & 29 of March.

these are the achievements by RPDB:

• Tertiary (Men) - Silver
• Open (Mixed) - Plate Final, Gold
• Tertiary (Women) - Gold

that's another 2 medals for me.

*pictures in Facebook*

Genting

ladies and gentlemen, i'll be heading to Genting Highland tonight with my Dragon Boat mates.

i promise to update after my trip.

stay safe, and take care!

updates will include:
- Latest asset bought
- MR 500
- Genting Trip

Bowling

few of us dragon boaters went to Marina Square to play bowling earlier today. i got a 67 on my first game, which had me 4th of the 7 people who played. and in the second game, i came up tops, with 120pts. not the best of my games, but at least i redeemed myself after the first game.

anyway, Rone and Christo had to do 50push-ups each because they were last in each games.

bowling's fun, especially when you haven't played it for years! i'm definitely going to play again before school reopens.


Rone & Christo; push-ups @ Marina Square SuperBowl.

120pts.