Sep. 19, 2000

RATS PLACE IN KELOWNA TOP 10

After two tough 500m heats, our EDBRC River Rats placed 6^th out of 98 teams at Kelowna.

 Heat 1 started weak for the Rats, allowing the strong Epic Express from Vancouver to surge ahead at the start.  The Rats paddled furiously, neck-and-neck with the remaining TCC and TD Lightning teams until the halfway mark, where the Rats surged ahead to take a decisive 2:22 second place, a length ahead of the third and fourth teams.  It wasn’t first place, but it was satisfying to quash the loud-mouthed TCC team, and to qualify in the top 10!

 “If we had another 100 metres, we would have caught them!”

-Andy

“Man, that was fast. The finish line buoy appeared out of nowhere”

-Paul

“Did anyone see my martini glass?”

-Dennis

Heat 2 was a bigger battle.  Lining up against the Steam Team from BC Rail, Team Masala, the Tsunami and the Electric Dragons, the Rats bolted right from the first stroke, but so did the other four teams.  It was a dramatic race, neck-and-neck for all five teams until the last 100 m, where the Rats lost timing, and allowed the strong Tsunami and Electric Dragons to gain a quarter-boat length on us.

The final Heat 2 results had the top 3 finishing within 1 second of each other, Rats finishing with a 2:29:84 behind the Electric’s 2:28:98 and the Tsunami’s 2:28:75.

 “F**K!, did we win?”

-Rob

“I dunno! But that sure hurt!”

-Andrew

“Did anyone see my martini shaker?”

-Dennis

The rest of Sunday was a shore-bound disappointment for the Rats  (see Bogus Weather article below).  The top medal honours were eventually taken by the CIBC Imperial Dragons.

It's hard to see in this photo, but Rat boat #5 (farthest lane from the camera) was less than one bench length behind the winning team at the finish line.