Boston Dragon Boat Festival

June 12-13, 2005

This was my first involvement in an actual dragon boat competition.  The temperature was in the mid to high 90's all weekend and our jerseys were very uncomfortable.  Harvard Dudley House, the graduate student organization, fielded two teams.  I was on the B (novice) team, and we did respectably for our skill level.  The Dudley A team edged out the local rivals, Dragon Boat Club of Boston, to win the local title, despite placing behind two really good visiting teams.

A bit of history for those so inclined: dragon boat racing is a 2000+ year old tradition in China, held in honor of the poet Qu Yuan's suicide.  The North American tradition is much younger.  Boston's festival is the oldest in America, with a comparatively modest 26 years.  The Harvard dragon boat club has existed for 6 years, and has won the local title in this race for the last 3 or 4 festivals.
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Dudley HQ 		IMGP0042.JPG
Dudley A 		IMGP0043.JPG
Dudley A
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Liz and dragon 		IMGP0048.JPG
Zung-ze, a glutinous rice dumpling (tastier than it sounds) 		IMGP0050.JPG
Between races
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Philly team? 		IMGP0057.JPG
Starting line 		IMGP0058.JPG
Team Dudley spectating: Laura, Shiela, Xiaohui, Mark (obscured), Luigi
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Dudley in the lead! 		IMGP0064.JPG
Dudley team 2 		IMGP0066.JPG
Dudley team A: before
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Dudley team A: en route to the start 		IMGP0070.JPG
Dudley in the lead! 		IMGP0071.JPG
Dudley victorious! (in the back)
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Dudley team A: victory!