PA Paddlefest 2015 - 11 Oct 2015

In conjunction with the official opening of the new PassionWave @ Marina Bay, PA Paddlefest brings the PLK Paddlers to new waters at Kallang River, near to the Gardens by the Bay. With the Singapore Flyer and the Gardens by the Bay towering in the background, it is no wonder why this year's Paddlefest brought much excitement to the local paddlers.

The following categories were contended

1. DB12 CSC
2. GRO Mixed
3. GRO Opens
4. Integen
5. DB 12 Novice

PLK had emerged podium finish for the following categories

1. DB12 CSC - 4th
2. GRO Mixed - 2nd
3. GRO Opens (22 crew) - 1st 
4. Integen - 1st
5. DB 12 Novice - 1st

Busan 2015 - PLK's 1st Overseas Race of the Year

With the conclusion of PA Paddlefest 2015, the Paddlers are back at the water training harder than ever for one of the events of the year - 5th Busan Dragonboat Race held in Incheon, Korea. 

A little background about Busan Race

The Busan Race is an annual dragonboat that is held in Busan, Incheon. It is to celebrate the dragonboat festival in South Korea. To commemorate the special occasion, dragonboat teams from all over the world are invited to stay in Busan for a week. This year, PLK Paddlers is honoured to be invited from the Busan organizers to participate in the dragonboat race and stay in a posh hotel nearby.

Departure from Singapore

Some of PLK Paddlers getting ready to fly to Korea!

The Race Experience

Our paddlers fought hard with other overseas contenders from China, Hongkong, Korea, Australia and other countries. And here are the reported results, live from Busan!

1) DB 12 Men Crew 200m Mixed - Champion
2) DB 12 Men 500m Mixed - 1st Runner up
3) DB 12 Men 200m Opens - 1st Runner up.

Congratulations PLK Paddlers! You have once again flew PLK flag high in the international dragonboating arena!

Here are some of the snapshots of the race!

Wish you were here - PLK Paddlers Busan Warriors

The big group photo of all warriors from different countries.

Our first trophy!

Big group photo!

Joerg, PLK Captain, proudly showing off the trophies clinched by PLK!

Team PLK Whoosh!

The Old Guard of PLK - Miss Evelyn Khoo and her Crew

Did you know how PLK came about?

Evelyn Khoo, the Team Manager, reminisced how she and her fellow crewmates struggled to make a name for themselves while being in another dragon boat team. She had recalled how the team focus was not on the girls, and they were left to struggle and finished dead last in one of the worst race sets ever. Her coxwain, which happened to be the current coach of PLK, offered to train her and the girls.

Hence, Evelyn had made the snap decision to break away from her team, and with a few others, they set up PLK Paddlers. It was originally meant to be an all-women's team but in order for the team to grow especially in a male-dominated sport, men had to be included as well. 

As PLK amassed in numbers and strength, that's where talents were nurtured under the training methodology of the Coach nicknamed as "the Sugarcane Machine". And so, the Old Guards of PLK had trained hard to bring PLK's name from infancy to a Force in the dragonboat arena.

Here's a quick trip down PLK's memory lane in the 2007-2010!

One of the first few overseas trips PLK had gone. Any familiar faces?

The Pioneer Batch of the muscles of PLK!

The Pioneer Batch of PLK Girls!

The Old Guards of PLK. Look how far we have come since then.

Like how our founding father Mr Lee Kwan Yew aptly put it in this simple but powerful quote

Credit source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/433682639093844704/ 

PLK 8th Party!

This year, PLK celebrates her 8th birthday, alongside with Coach Kim Hwa's 52nd birthday and our nation's 50th birthday! PLK from all generations (including the pioneers) gathered together at the very posh Hotel Jen to celebrate three very key occasions! They are our nation's 50th birthday, our beloved fatherly coach Ng Kim Hwa's 52nd birthday, and PLK's 8th anniversary!

Hosted by our in-house Holy Mother PLK Evelyn Khoo, and her co-host, the adorable and fluffy Edwin Phillips, the night's event progressed smoothly into the individual segments of prize presentation, video montages, and our very own in-house talents. What a treat in store for PLKians! To get into the spirit of things, PLKians dressed up in all shades of red and white to symbolize Singapore's national color - purity and youth as a growing nation.

Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten. - Lilo

 Some of our PLKians! Look at how dashing and happy they are!

 Group Photo! Look at all our joyous faces! Simply because there's a splendid feast waiting for us in the reception area!

 The pioneer batch of PLKians. PLK would have never come to what we are without the pioneer batch, the "Old Guards of PLK"

PLK wishes Singapore a very happy 50th birthday!

As our beloved sugarcane machine Coach turns 52 today, PLK would like to wish Coach health, longevity, happiness, and ever-burning passion to continue to instil the PLK beliefs and tenets to veteran and new paddlers alike! Keep the fire burning Coach Ng!

This year, PLK is proud to announce our very own King and Queen PLK!

The winners are:

King of PLK - Renaud

Queen of PLK - Lester

Congratulations to both winners!

Singapore Dragonboat Festival 2015

It was a scorching weekends for the dragonboat fraternity as the race site in Bedok Reservoir was once again abuzz with activity for SBDF 2015! PLK Paddlers had trained tirelessly for this race, the event to once again compete with other budding teams on the national level. This is the official SDBF weekends - one of the biggest dragonboat competitions on our local race calendar other than DBS Regatta!

Day 1.

 Premier Opens 2015

GRO Opens 2015

PLK Paddlers had participated in Premier Opens and GRO Opens on Day 1. Our warriors fought gallantly and had emerged minor plate champions for Premier Opens and first runner ups for GRO Opens. Well done for our warriors! They have certainly set the pace and morale for the upcoming races on Day 2!

Day 2.

Day 2 was an equally tough fight for our PLK Paddlers, but training had definitely paid off!

DB Mixed Premier 22 

DB Premier Opens (Mens)

GRO Mixed

 Many teams had sent out their strongest warriors to compete in day 2's events. However, PLK had once again proved to stand against the toughest of the toughest and emerged stronger than before! DB Mixed 22 had bagged a 3rd overall placing, which is a big improvement from all the results of PLK from past SDBFs, and the men's team had emerged 5th in placing against school titans such as SIM and NTU! And big thumbs up to the GRO Mixed team, who had emerged victorious!

Well done Paddlers!

PLK Group Photo - SDBF 2015

As the sun slowly sets across the horizon, PLK Paddlers had gathered together for the traditional coach debrief and group photo as a memento to the toughest fight PLK had conquered in 2015. Till the next SDBF, Paddlers!

Summary of race

GRO Mixed - 1st

GRO Mens - 2nd

DB 12 - 4th

DB 22 Mixed - 3rd

DB 22 mens - 5th

DBS Marina Regatta 2015

 We were out and about the beautiful Marina Bay over the two weekends

of 30 & 31 May and 6 & 7 June! 

DBS MARINA REGATTA 2015

Our lovely Singapore skyline!

PLK Paddlers participated in the following events:

- Premier Open 22-crew 200m & 500m

- Premier Mixed 22-crew 200m & 500m

- Premier Women 12-crew 200m & 500m

We achieved a competitive milestone of having both PLK Paddlers A & B boats in the Minor Finals of the Premier Open 22-crew 200m & 500m races. Our Premier Mixed boat also fought its way into the Minor Finals over the 2nd race weekend. Considering this was a first race experience for many of our newer team-mates, we were satisfied with our  overall performance but eager to strive for better results in future races!

As always, the PLK race experience would not be complete without team bonding and lots of SELFIES!

Our PLK family -

Strength in diversity. 

Striving to be the best. 

We are dragon boat warriors with big hearts. 

PLK Whoooosh!

Why We Row

This isn't a Math test.

This is a completely different kind of test; one where PASSION has a funny way of trumping logic.

 

And if there is something we have in abundance of in Team PLK, it is HEART.

The countdown to the battle has begun. Let's go, Team!
 

PLK Whoooosh!

Interview Series: Oz Titus

Over the years, PLK Paddlers has groomed numerous team-mates into national athletes. A notable PLK alumnus is Oz Titus, the current captain of Dragon Boat Team SG, who will be competing in the SEA Games 2015. In an exclusive Team SG interview, Oz shares his thoughts on training and his dragon boat journey:

http://dbteamsg.sg/interview-series-oz-titus-hong-mong-zi/

"Team-in-Action" photo :)

Thanks for the semi-pro shot, Eugenia!

 

It's a rare photo opportunity indeed to have such a nice team "action" pic taken at our homeground, Bedok Reservoir Park!

P for PLK, P for Perseverance

7 more weekends to DBS Marina Regatta.

PLK, together let's persevere for success.

PLK Whoooosh!

PLK's Tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew

Thanks, everyone, for helping out with the team tribute to Mr Lee.

Big thanks to Steven and team-mates who contributed pictures, articles & cuttings namely Lilian, Darwynna, Junliang & Faiz. Special mention to the following team-mates for staying back to help: Jie Shi, Jia Khee, Yihao, Glenn, Renaud, Faiz, Sam Lau, Junliang, Alvin, Alan, Steven, Gerald & Sulynn. Thanks all for penning your thoughts; it was great to see team-mates unleashing your creativity for this worthy cause.

the cover of our tribute book

some of the pages containing heartfelt messages

 

the final pages of our tribute book

 

our book was submitted to the Bedok Community Tribute Site...

 

where members of the public could read our tributes to Mr Lee

 

 

In loving memory of our founding father

Rest in peace, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.