Resurreccion (left) and Nacor from Boracay Island, Philippines.
KOTA KINABALU: After spending hours traveling to Sabah with her 45 team members, Azy Resurreccion of Boracay, Philippines not only enjoyed the friendly atmosphere here but together with her team, won two categories at the Sabah FCAS International Dragon Boat Race 2014.
Her team, Boracay AllStars went home with two golds, two silvers and one bronze in all five categories that they participated in at the event, which was held at Likas Bay during the weekend.
The boat, bus and aeroplane journey from their hometown was all worth it.
“This is our first time joining dragon boat race in Malaysia. It is really exciting to be here representing Boracay Island of the Philippines, and we are eyeing for next year’s race.
“We have been competing in several races in Hong Kong and Singapore, but Sabah is another place that we should consider in participating annually because of the potential in the future.
“We saw a number of local participants passed out at the first day race, and even today many collapsed after paddling for the 800-meter categories. It may [have been]caused [by]lack of training, but we clearly saw the potential of Sabahan teams. We may come back next year to challenge them in the name of watersport,” she said.
Resurreccion was the team leader for Boracay AllStars, a dragon boat race club from Boracay, a small island in Aklan province 345km south of Manila.
Asked whether Boracay AllStars’ participation in the event was to foster mutual friendship between the two countries, the team’s trainer, Ken Nacor said the team members were not fully funded by the Philippines government to bring peace and friendship between the Philippines and Malaysia, but that they were just a club team, trying to be part of international events such as Sabah FCAS International Dragon Boat Race 2014.
“If we bring it (peace and friendship), it will be through our passion for the sport and we just intend to represent our community and our supporters in Boracay.
“The hospitality in Sabah is something very special to us, so yes, we met new awesome friends here in Sabah. We are also honoured with the support from the Philippines citizens who have been residing here in Sabah who helped us with food. It really feels like home,” said Nacor.
Other international teams which participated at the two-day event were Brunei Darussalam and Australia.
Team leader of Gamta Brunei Darussalam, Mohd Fadillah Sarudin said after participating in the yearly dragon boat race at the same venue, Likas Bay for several years, this year was very exciting because of the increased number of categories.
“We have been participating in this race for many, many years, but this year we see more categories have been added. We might bring our women team next year.
“It was never in our history of having a women’s team, but since the category of this event is growing so next year we are considering bringing them.
“Teams from Boracay and Tanjung Papat are the strongest team this year, but with lots of training, we are hoping to be able to challenge them next year,” said Fadillah.
Meanwhile, a team member of South Australia’s Black Dragons Dragon Boat Club, Andrew Spurling, said the team would come back with a bigger number and stronger team next year.
“We came to this year’s race with not enough paddlers. It clearly explains why we did not win any categories this year.
“However, it always feels good to be here in Sabah, especially when the hospitality is always on the top of the priority,” he added.
The Sabah FCAS International Dragon Boat Race 2014 is formally known as Sabah Dragon Boat Race.
The Chinese Cultural Association was the former organizer of the race until the state government decided to give the Federation of Chinese Association (FCAS) the mandate to take over in organising this year’s event.
Earlier in the event, FCAS president Datuk Seri T.C Goh said the federation had set a date for next year’s race, hoping the early announcement will bring more participation from Peninsular Malaysia, as well as international participants.
“Sabah Second FCAS International Dragon Boat Race 2015 will be held on June 13 and 14 next year. With the announced dates, we are hoping the other dragon boat race organizers, especially in Penang and Putrajaya, will choose other dates to ensure we are not clashing with it.
“This year, our race clashed with both Penang and Putrajaya dragon boat races. That is why we did not see any participation from our counterparts from the peninsular,” he said.
The final race yesterday began as early as 6.30am with the arrival of team members followed by races in five categories.
Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and his wife, Toh Puan Norlidah R.M. Jasni were the guests of honour accompanied by Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun who arrived at the venue at 10am.
The 24 Chinese Drums Performance and Zong Zi dumpling offering ceremony were among the highlights of the event.
Dragon Boat Festival or Duan Wu Jie is a traditional Chinese event. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet during the Warring States period in ancient China.
Dragon boat race and the eating of Zong Zi, glutinous rice dumpling, is part of the festival. Nowadays, the race has evolved into an international sport event which transcends time and regional boundaries.
In Malaysia, the dragon boat festival binds different races together and eliminates racial barriers.
Different people in one boat, but they move as one.