We Are The Champions!!

Eversince 28 February 2007, we (whom will be disclosed shortly) have been diligently practising our strokes and such at the Putrajaya Lake Club. We = staff of my lovely company who once attended Oxford or Cambridge or any of the London schools. (Note the operative word is ATTENDED and NOT graduated. Had it been the latter, I would not have qualified)

The event that we were looking forward to was the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race 2007 that was scheduled on the 1st of April 2007. There were to be numerous races on that fateful day;

1. The original and traditional - coxed four sweep boat race between Oxford and Cambridge

2. The invitational - coxless four skull boat race between Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard

3. The oriental - dragon boat race between Oxbridge, TM, Harvard and Deloitte.

(note: coxed means that there is another person on the boat who shouts commands and steers the boat while the rowers just concentrate on rowing. coxless just means without the cox, la)

So, our task was to form a winning boat and grab that inaugral trophy back to the office! The practise sessions were rather fun. We were allowed out by 4pm , twice weekly to go to the Putrajaya Lake Club for a little warm up, paddling and some treats (in the form of Mini Milkyway, Mini Mars and Mini Snickers) At least , I thought it was not that tiring, the rowers might feel otherwise. You see, it was my job to sit at the helm of the dragon boat, shouting commands and encouragements (personally, that's what I call it) to the guys. Don't do any rowing anymore -- pregnant, remember?

So, on the actual race day itself, we were greeted by some drizzles here and there, the weather was very cooperative in trying to simulate the actual event by the River Thames.

Unfortunately though for our first race against the Oxbridge team, it was raining cats and dogs and all of us got totally soaked. :( Picked the 10 rowers (we had one extra) and the TM boat made our way to the starting line. While waiting under the bridge, we saw the distant silhoutte of the Oxbridge team struggling to get to the starting buoy. Haa!! Ada can nak makan ni.. heh heh heh Suffice to say, we won that round by a few boat's length and we were through to the FINALS. Now it was down to either Harvard or Deloitte. 

In the second semi-finals, Harvard pulled through and they seemed a little more together than we had hoped. Plus the fact that my Boss was rowing in the Harvard boat - the finals could be a little tougher than expected. The time came for the final dash in front of the Putrajaya Lake Club and - as the post's title tells you - it was no surprise that we emerged as champions! Got the trophy to prove it! heh heh heh

Boss has promised to take us out for a victory lunch soon and there's also the Boat Gala Dinner at Carcosa this Saturday.. Uuuu, I feel very posh all of a sudden..

* Pix courtesy of Shazz. Got more pix to upload later.

-dillz blogging out-