A new reason for the Philippines to be very proud and to celebrate for the Philippine Dragon Boat Team had snatched gold.
The ongoing 10th International Dragon Boat Racing Championship which is currently held in Tampa, Florida became the instrument for the PH team to finally earned the very first gold in the mentioned competition.
Several events are scheduled as part of the championship which runs from August 1- 7, 2011.
To support the Philippine Dragon Boat Team, Filipinos in the US had spent their time to come over to the venue in order to give their cheer to the group.
The first event for the Philippine Dragon Boat team was the 1000-meter men’s race which was divided into two heats. If a team won the two heats, then they would be earning a gold and that was what the Philippine Team did.
Comprising the winning team for their first event were 10 Filipino Paddlers and a Filipina drummer.
For the mentioned event, the mighty team from the Philippines took the race versus teams from Australia, Hungary, Italy and Trinidad and Tobago.
With their powerful and speedy strokes, they had led the event paving their way to the most coveted gold.
Official time for the first heat for the PH team was 4 minutes and 59 seconds as reported. They only got a 3 second lead to the following Australian group. For the second heat, the Philippines finished the race in a matter of 4 minutes and 57 seconds ending the opponents hope of getting the gold.
This year, more than 2,000 athletes arrived in Florida for the 10th International Dragon Boat Racing Championship.
Their recent achievement follows those of the recognitions garnered by the Philippine Azkals, Charice, Manny Pacquiao, and the very recent WCOPA 2011 Junior Grand Champion Joshua Pineda.