Dragon Boat Team Takes First Among CA High Schools

At their third race of the season, the took first in the High School Division A.

"This is the first time the team has accomplished this since entering this race back in 2005," said Coach Clara Arazon in an email.  

About 23 paddlers from and Milpitas High schools competed in the 15th annual Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival.  

Like most races, competition is stratified into divisions (A, B, C) and then first, second, third within those divisions, according to Arazon.

In addition to the high school division, the group also competed in Mixed Adult and 200 meter sprints. The High School and Adult Divisions are 500 meter.  

The group maintained an average time of 2:08 minutes over the 500 meter course during the last weekend of July. Mountain View-Milpitas Dragon Boat first place finish was a blistering 2:08:06. 

Unfortunately, the average time was not enough to take on the mixed adult teams in Division IIA. Mountain View-Milpitas missed an award winning 4th to Lightwave (who also practices with the group at the in Redwood City).  

The final races of the day were the 200 meter sprints. The Los Angeles Racing Dragons (LARD) overwhelmed Mountain View-Milpitas in the seeding rounds and was the only team to advance to the finals. 

The High School Division in Long Beach is usually dominated by San Francisco based teams. This was the first time for a South Bay high school team to win first place in Division A.