Bankstown                                                         

Through the eyes of the President

What a cracker of a season opener....

OPENS
First and foremost, I would like to offer congratulations to the Opens Crew that put in a stellar performance, in snatching a glorious defeat from the Jaws of Victory. All jokes aside, for all those privileged enough to be in attendance, we were treated with an exciting finish.
Coming into the race, we felt we were a little underdone and probably not in the running for such a strong showing. After leading for the entirety of the race, the opens crew was pipped at the line by the Navy in the very last stroke, to lose by a matter of inches (0.3s). Some may say the loss could possibly be the difference between eating two sanwiches for lunch as opposed to eating eight (You know who you are).
I am pleased to say that this augers well for a good season for City Dragons.
Without further ado Let's hear a round of applause for our semi-all conquering opens crew.

Opens
Aaron Desousa (C)
Mark van Uden
Keith Seeto
Owen Francis
Stephen Sue
Peter Aguinaldo
Darren Chan
Adrian Santos
Mark De Jesus
Paul G
Jenny Ohearn (drum)
Keith Louie (sweep)

MIXED
Not to be outdone were our mixed crew. Good result with a third place finish in their respective final. For a new crew, competing in their first event, they can hold their heads up high and say with pride "I didn't come last". On a more serious note the Mixed crew performed very well and I can see the makings of a very competitive team. It shouldn't be too many meets down the track where this team will be delivering some fantastic results.

Now lets have a big hand for the mixed crew.

Mixed
Barbara Zepletal
Louise Turley-Higgins
Kim Da Costa (c)
Stephen Da Costa
Lester Lopez
Philip De Jesus
Bernard Gualberto
Julie Montgomery
Jenny Ohearn
Keith Louie
Aaron (drum)
MVU (sweep)

Learning's and Observations from the Day.

1)The city dragons are a kick arse 10 man boat team. So much so, a suggestion that we only race ten man events was tabled and quashed after much deliberation.

2)Much respect to Kim for providing a fantastic lunch. Look only as far as point number three to reinforce this. Not sure when I can sell up my house and move into the Da Costa's for a good feed.

3)How can one man who is 5 foot nothing, bald and not named Takeru Kobayashi (World Hot Dog Eating Champion) eat so much food.
4)Mad props to Azza. Managed to find the fabled bucket in team colours.
Left one grown man broken and stewing in his own jealousy.
5)Requested an e-mail from a team member this morning about crew lists.
Listed on the bottom (Vinnie and Wa - pom pom girls). Learning here is, respect thy president.

6)How can one man eat so much. Still in Disbelief.

Thank you to all those who attended and made this a wholly enjoyable meet. Perfect weather combined with good company. > An extra big thank you to all those who volunteered to help out DBNSW and make this into a great day. Thanks to Karen, Ingrid, Cindy and John, who volunteered from the city dragons side.

Good first showing, so now is the time to consolidate and build upon this good early showing. See you at training!

Warm Regards

Wa