MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Philippine dragon boat racing team, mostly soldiers, bagged yesterday (Aug. 5) their first gold medal in the 10th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championship held in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Team Philippines beat participants from 17 countries, setting the world record in the 1,000-meter men’s event with a time of 4 minutes 57 seconds.
Team members included seven members of the Army, one from the Air Force, one from the Navy, and a retired Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) sailor.
“Australia was our fiercest competitor and they trailed us by three seconds to the finish line. With the win, we set a new world record in the 1,000-meter men’s event with the fastest time of four minutes and 57 seconds. The first heat was set at 4:59 seconds,” said team manager Army Maj. Harold Cabunoc.
The Filipinos trained for the shorter races and were not prepared to compete in the 1,000 meters, but their victory was not entirely unexpected.
“Our team was not actually prepared to compete in the 1,000-meter event. Their training practices were focused on the 200-meter and the 500-meter events but to show to the world that we are indeed a force to reckon with, we decided to compete in the 1,000-meter event and attempt to nail the new world record, which we easily did,” said Cabunoc, who aside from rowing, is also an international shooter and the deputy spokesman for the Philippine Army.
Aside from the 1,000-meter race, the Filipino rowers are set to compete in seven other rowing events in the competition that is described in US news reports as the “Dragon Boat Olympics.”
Cabunoc said that other competing teams have been trying to avoid goiing head to head with the Philippine rowing team, being the record holder in the small boat division of the IDBF World Championship in 2007 and 2009.
The small boat division is composed of ten paddlers and a drummer.
“I am very confident that we will have many more gold medals to come. We want to make every Filipino proud and that the local athletes can be relied on in international competitions. It is our hope that sports officials will finally support Dragon Boat race as a separate sport from Canoe-Kayak,” Cabunoc said.
Cabunoc also said that Team Philippine rowers are inspired and are all in high spirits due to the Filipino bayanihan spirit around Florida and supporters from other US states who also came to give the team members moral support, cheer them up, and give them food.
He said the Filipino-American community has supplied the Filipino rowers with energy drinks and native dishes like adobo, sinigang, bangus, lumpia, puto and also Philippine-style spaghetti.
“The bayanihan spirit came alive among Pinoys around Tampa Bay. Some of them came all the way from Texas and New Jersey just to show their support to us. We have a steady flow of Pinoy food and endless supply of energy drinks,” Cabunoc said.
Army Sgt. Usman Anterola, who led the team to their first gold medal, said that his teammates did their best so as not to disappoint the thousands of cheering Filipinos.
“Nakakahiyang matalo sa laro kasi napakarami ang suporta mula sa mga Pinoy di lang sa Pilipinas, maging dito sa America (It’ll be a shame if we lose because of the overwhelming support,not only in the Philippines but here in America). I can see the sense of pride among our athletes and our fellow kababayans here,” Cabunoc quoted Anterola as telling him after the race.