On November 19th, the first Huainan Dragon Boat Race was held in Quanshan Lake, Huainan. After fierce competition with strong teams including Fujian Benma and Jiangxi Gao’an, two teams from the University of Science and Technology achieved excellent results, with one team winning the champion in 500m and 3rd place in 200m, the other winning 9th place in 500m and 5th in 200m.

USTC Dragon Boat Team at the award ceremony. (Image by USTC Dragon Boat Team)

In order to train the new members of the team while maintain great competition performance, USTC Dragon Boat Team sent a first team of old players and a second team of new members to participate. The competition included the 200m and 500m straight track races, and only the first place of each group as well as the fastest team of all the other teams could enter the finals to compete for the championship.

In the group matches of the 500m straight track race, the first team of USTC carried out strategies to maintain strength, and won the first place of the group with minimal physical energy consumption. In the finals, after steadily lifting the oars, the first team of the USTC gradually pulled away from the second place giving a full play to the midway paddle advantage. Finally, the team won the champion in the 500m straight track race without a hitch with correct tactics as well as strength that far surpassing the other teams. The team completed the 500m race with a time of 2 minutes and 12 seconds, which is their best in recent years.

The second team in the competition. (Image by USTC Dragon Boat Team)

The new players in the second team also gave an impressive performance. In the 200m straight track race that requires explosive force and appropriate rowing rhythm, facing many strong teams, the team won the fifth place. For new players, It is worth praising to achieve such impressive results in their first competition. With more training and competition experience, they will definitely give better performance in the future.

This year coincides with the 10th anniversary of the founding of the USTC Dragon Boat Team, and the team celebrated it with remarkable achievements after a long period of preparations. The team members are all determined to carry on the fighting spirit and will continue to win glory for USTC.

(Written by CHEN Yehong, edited by ZHANG Yihang, USTC News Center)