This year’s 2016 Macau International Dragon Boat Races will once again attract some of the top local and international dragon boat teams to compete for the top honours. However, as well as focusing on the trophies, the athletes also place a lot of value on team spirit and passion, as well as the sense of achievement and satisfaction they receive from taking part in this competition. And this is exactly what the athletes from the Shunde Xingtan Natives Association of Macau treasure the most.
This is the sixth year that members of the Association have joined the event. Mr Ken Wong, Chairman of the Association, says the initial idea for forming the team was to allow members to recollect their childhood memories.
“The Macau International Dragon Boat Races is one of the biggest events in Macau,” says Mr Wong. “Dragon boat racing is one thing we are all passionate about in our hometown. Therefore, we have organized our members to participate in this event every year since we were established so that they can get together.”
The Chairman also says that although their dragon boat team is not as young as other teams, they are just as competitive as those younger athletes. In fact, their team has been dubbed “the thousand-year-old dragon” due to the members’ ages.
Mr Leong Hin Fong, President of the Association, admits that the reason their team is famous is not so much because of their strength, but because of the fact that they are comparatively “old”.
“Last year, the total combined age of our athletes exceeded 1,300 years! None of the Macau teams can beat us on that.”
In fact, putting together this “thousand-year-old” team happened rather by chance. Mr Leong says that when they first called on their members to represent the Association in the dragon boat races, many of them were really keen on it. They only realized how “old” the team was when they reviewed the applications.
The president and his team members are pretty relaxed about race results, saying that they do not put winning as their top priority.
Maybe that’s why the Association does not adopt a tight practice schedule like other teams.
After the practice session, the team will stay behind for a gathering and a chat.
“Our practice session is between 6:30 and 8:30 every night. After that, we go back to our Association and have dinner together to discuss the practice results and where to improve.”
Despite the age of their athletes, Mr Leong is confident about their strength and suggests that they are even stronger than some of the younger athletes in the dragon boat races.
Other than their “thousand-year-old” dragon, the Shunde team is also famous for their boat’s canopy.
“The norm in our hometown is that if we are racing dragon boats they have to have a canopy. It serves like a flag for our team. On the canopy, there are dragons, phoenixes and some auspicious characters and phrases.”
The President says their canopy is quite an attraction for the foreign athletes. Many of them find it interesting and are very intrigued when they see it.
Regarding this year’s race, Mr Leong says he only wants the athletes to try their best and enjoy the event.
But for Mr Wong, a 65-year-old member of the team, the standard he sets for himself is higher: “I have great expectations about this year. I want to fight with the other teams and be the champion. Let’s all do our best!”
