ORGANISERS of the first-ever Jamaica Dragon Boat Festival are pleased with the support the event received at Kingston Harbour at the weekend.

Teams from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard and the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) hunkered down in specialised dragon-themed boats to take top honours at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Port Royal.

JDF and CBA were given the same time of 1:04.257 minutes while the Chinese Embassy ended the race on 1:05.660, after being loudly cheered on by an animated audience that assembled on the hotel’s dock and viewing gallery.

“We hosted it — first time ever in Jamaica’s history — and I think we did very well,” CBA captain Johnny Wong said. “Next year we’re going to do it [much] better. The team feels great; first ever in Jamaica, feels very great about it. We are very happy that we even joined the win.”

JDF team captain Tiran Maxwell is proud of their effort.

“Well, for us, we are excited about being a part of the competition,” he said. “We’re excited that we were invited to be a part of the first-ever competition. We prepared on Saturdays and Sundays over by Port Royal. We would have trained in the morning and we would have also put in the effort, put in the work so we came out here, we had a team plan, we had a goal, and we delivered on that goal.”

Jamaica was crowned Caribbean Dragon Boat Race Champion ahead of The Bahamas and Team Misfits, an invitational team with members from Canada, USA, China, and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). Dragon Boat was established in T&T some time ago and has been in The Bahamas for about four years now.

Each team had a minimum of 12 players, consisting of 10 paddlers, one drummer, and a captain who steers the boat. The competition attracted teams from The Bahamas, Canada, China, Germany, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Suriname, Tajikistan, T&T, USA, and host country Jamaica. Some of the other teams that displayed their skills were UWI Confucius, McKay Security, CHEC Construction, Purity Bakery, General Foods, and the Hydra teams (2).

Sports Development Foundation General Manager Alan Beckford welcomed the experience, which included an up close experience with the dragon boats for spectators.

“I must congratulate the organisers of the Dragon Boat Festival today,” he said. “Wonderful event, so wonderful that they actually invited newcomers to do it, and I was one who had that opportunity. So what it shows is [that this is] a sport for everybody — and the tourism potential of this sport is fantastic.”

Race Director Kerry Chow, of Canada, is certified by the sport’s governing body, the International Dragon Boat Federation. He had high praises for the competitors and the Jamaican audience, who embraced the sport.

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “The amount of people who are enthusiastic about the sport they’ve never seen; the local people who actually came down, raced the race, brought their family, was amazing.

“I actually expected a little bit less, and you exceeded that by a mile. When we look at the overall result, the JDF, the Chinese Benevolent Association and the coast guard are new, new to this sport, but they were right there with the CBA team because it’s their sport. It was amazing watching teams take on each other on the water, but coming off the water, the handshakes, the hugs, the friendship was amazing.”