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Big Red C, and Fai D. This fall, Fai D did not compete because of the insufficient number of paddlers for a fourth boat.

“We lost about 30 seniors and they usually made up most of the top boats,” coach Brian Danforth said. “Also, about 14 underclassmen dropped from the team this fall, so we unexpectedly had to train a lot of new paddlers for our third crew, Big Red C.”

Despite the loss, about 15-16 new members have joined. “New folks bring great energy and power,” Danforth said. “But they are still learning to paddle.”

The team’s first race of the school year was the Kaiser Permanente International Dragon Boat Festival on Sept. 26. In the division A finals, Cardinal Crewzer placed 3rd and Red Tide placed 5th while Big Red C placed 4th in division D.

In addition to the three mixed crews, the women’s and men’s gender boats were able to capture 2nd and 3rd place respectively in their categories.

“The results were overall pretty good,” Danforth said. “There was definite improvement not just in how the paddlers placed but also how they looked when they were paddling. The crews were much more aggressive and it paid off.”

There were 22 other competing teams, including main rivals Lincoln High School and Community Youth Center (CYC). “We are still working as hard as before but there is a lot more competition from Lincoln and CYC,” junior Lucy Yip said.

Crew Cardinal Crewzers had slipped to 4th last year in the division A, placing the lowest in Lowell Dragon Boat history. This race it was able to place 3rd “in a really solid fashion,” according to Danforth.

Big Red C, always a competitive and placing division C crew, disappointed this year, according to Yip. “It was made up of mostly new people and they had only been out to three practices,” Yip said. “It was their first race, they have a lot of time to improve.”

Coach Danforth admits that the loss of the seniors is hard but he considered the race “tons of fun.” The whole race was a bonding experience for the whole team. “Everyone was really excited and supportive,” junior Red Tide paddler Mindy Lin said. “A lot of people I usually would never talk to gave me encouragement and we all played games together.”

The team has been improving a lot by having more off-season practices and summer conditionings. The team attended summer races in Fremont, CA and at Long Beach, CA, placing well against high school and adult teams. Cardinal Crewzers placed 1st in the mixed division 2A with adult teams and Red Tide placed 3rd in high school division B. “The teams placed excellently during the summer races,” Danforth said. “They beat out some high school teams that I wasn’t sure they were going to be able to beat. They also beat several adult teams, which I was really impressed with.”

The dragon boat crews will continue to improve. “We will just continue working hard and just getting out there and having more conditionings and practices,” Yip said. “We will keep improving for our next race in the spring.”

The California Dragon Boat Association’s (CDBA) International race during their spring season is Lowell’s biggest race of the year. “We will be up against a lot more high schools and teams,” Lin said.

Come support our crews as they paddle for an entire during the fundraising Paddle-a-Thon on Dec. 16.