With the weather fine and clear, the 2019 Anhui University Dragon Boat Open Tournament is held on March 7 and 8 at the Zipeng Scenic Spots, Hefei, Anhui. With good preparation and two days’ hard work, dragon boat team of University of Science and Technology of China(USTC) won the championship of 100 meters’ straight race and took the first prize in men’s 500 and 200 meters’ straight race in the third place.

(The USTC dragon boat team)

Six university teams participated in the 100 meters’ straight race on the morning of March 7. The race is divided into two rounds and the final result is the two-round average. In the first round, the USTC team take the first place with a time of 26.75 seconds. Although the team got the first place, team members still found where they didn’t do well, such as the left and right members played the quants out of step at the end of game, some posterior members didn’t keep pace with the front members’ move and something like that. With the experience of the first round, the USTC team even made progress in the second round race with a time of 26.54 seconds. After two rounds of race, the USTC team won the champion in the event of 100 meters’ straight race!

(the moment of the race)

The 500 meters’ straight race was lay on the morning of the next day. At the start of game, the USTC team realized that competitors are very strong and trained. While the members of USTC team are all amateurs of dragon boat from other majors, some other teams were made up of professional athletes. This message had an impact on the confidence of team members. In the first round race, the USTC team only got the fourth place. But giving up is never an option to the USTC team even though the competitors are two hard to beat. The team regained confidence at the break between first and second round and made a new plan for the next race. In the second race, at 150 meters from the finishing line, the team began to speed up and the members did their best to paddle. Finally, the USTC team took the second place with a time of 2’17’’96, 4 seconds faster than the first round. Finally, the USTC team took the third place based on the average of two rounds.

In the afternoon, only two hours later after 500 meters’ race, the USTC team participated in the 200 meters’ straight race and won the first prize in the third place too in this race.

(the group photo of all team)

USTC dragon boat team won many awards in all kinds of competitions since it founded. Without professional athletes, the team members are all amateurs of dragon boat, but this team never lacks passion and energy. They train hard and never give up, and I believe they are ready for the more competition in the future.

(The USTC dragon boat team after the game)

（Written by YU Haikuo, edited by YE Zhenzhen, USTC News Center）