Dragon Boat racing has been in existence since the first dugout was dampened by the lapping shores of lands forgotten. It must have been the teenagers of that distant, obscure time who first thought “My dugout is faster than his dugout” and the first dugout drag race was on. The tradition has carried forth to modern day and the students of Lincoln High have perfected the art of paddling their monster boat across the finish line first. Bob Leung, the Dragon Boat head coach, sends us this article:

        “It was a foggy morning on Sunday, August 28th, with the sun peeking out from behind the Bay Bridge on Treasure Island. It was the first time the CDBA (California Dragon Boat Association) had held the race at this venue. It was a beautiful site, and the bay waters were almost calm. There were booths that sold food, and booths that sold merchandise, and even booths that were giving out free items. There was a rock climbing course, and “Dragon Land” where children could get their faces or hats decorated. Over 100 teams came out to this year’s International Dragon Boat Festival “Celebrating 10 Years,” sponsored by Kaiser Permanente. There were adult novice teams, adult Bay Area Teams, high school teams, and visiting teams coming from as far as Canada.

        For the High School Division, there were 16 strong teams competing for first place. Among these teams were the defending champions, Lowell High School, and two teams from Cerritos, California. Lincoln High School had three teams entered into this race; Lincoln Gold, or “A” team, Lincoln Red, or “B” team, and Lincoln Black, or “C” team (our newest addition). As a result of hard work during practices in the bitter cold, and sometimes being completely drenched from head to toe, and our hands having turned a shade of purple from lack of heat, we accomplished our goal of placing high in each division.

        Our Black team placed 4th in the High School “B” Division. Our Red team placed 2nd in the “B,” losing by less than a second, but still proud to have made it that far. Our Gold team raced in the “A” Division against Lowell’s “A” team and their “B” team also. Lincoln Gold placed 1st, Lowell “A” placed 2nd, and Lowell “B” placed 3rd. Lowell put up a really hard fight. Lincoln was entered in  two more divisions, the boy’s division and the girl’s division. Our guys placed 1st in the boy’s division, defending their championship from last year. Our girls placed 2nd in the girl’s division, right behind Lowell’s girls.

        Overall, this race experience at Treasure Island has been amazing, from the gorgeous view of the city, to the team unity and great teamwork. A great time was had by all.”

        We wish the Dragon Boat team much success in years to come.