DIAMONDS ARE A DOG'S BEST FRIEND

The Dog Paddlers did it! We ended up in the division in which we thought we had a great chance at winning a medal—the Diamond division. That's one division down from the Platinum division (the highest division) that we'd finished in at Nanaimo, and was definitely the right place for us to be given the competition from off-island and south of the border who come to the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival. We were very happy to find ourselves in the Diamond division.

We won both our heats on Saturday, with very respectable times, finishing 11th over all on the day. That put us into Diamond. Better to be at the top of Diamond than at the bottom of Platinum, we figured. On Sunday, we finished second in our semi-final in the morning, which put us into the A final for Diamond—aka the medal round—for the afternoon.

It was a close race in the final...as the finals always are. We stuck to it, and gave the Portland-based Zamboanga team (a boat-load of much younger, more buff paddlers) a run for their money. In the end, they squeaked out a win by about half a second at the line. The Dog Paddlers finished second, securing ourselves a very nice silver medal. The Zamboanga folks later told us that they thought they'd leave us in the dust, and were mighty surprised when we stayed right with them throughout the race. We certainly made them earn their gold medal.

Thanks to all the friends and family who turned out over the weekend to watch our races. We really appreciate your support and enthusiasm. It makes our race days even more special. Thanks too to our intrepid coach, Jacob. We couldn't have done it without you!

Congratulations to all my fellow Dog Paddlers. It's been a lot of hard work but it's been a great year!