The likes of JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs aren’t the only sorts of paddlers that will brave the waters of Meadow Lake for August 8-9’s 19th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York. There are also those for whom dragon boating is a way of life, for whom corporate rivalries come second to racing with the very best in the New York area.
Meet DCH Racing, a Queens-based crew sponsored by DCH Auto Group that has paddled competitively in such places as Hong Kong, Macau and Vancouver. The team fields men’s, women’s, mixed and junior programs, and it has proudly claimed the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival title as recently as 2006. The crew has been a Festival staple since the event’s early days.
DCH Auto Group provides the crew’s boats and equipment, and it welcomes serious paddlers. Among them is Raymond Leung, a retired corrections officer from Rikers Island who has been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, on active duty and reserve, for more than 30 years. Leung, who became involved in the sport in order to stay healthy, is an outrigger too; he competes in both types of races, typically traveling among Eastern Seaboard cities like Boston and Washington. Somewhat of a dragon boating free agent, he plans on hopping on the DCH’s co-ed boat, and he can’t wait for the races to begin.
“You get so many teams, it’s one of the biggest races for New York, and you’ve got so many corporate and actually high-level teams coming to New York, trying to compete for the top prize,” he said.
Leung, a Forest Hills resident, just arrived home from a Philadelphia race with the city’s police department team. He accepted an invite and hopped into an open seat, and the squad ended up winning first place in the Civil Service Cup race. He will train continuously for the event at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, although his unofficial status as DCH elder statesmen allows him to train independently from the rest of the crew.
As for the rest of the crew? They practice as often as three times a week.
“You’re basically training all year round,” Leung said. “It’s in the warmer weather that you can actually get out on your boat, but you try to maintain your athletic level all year, so when you do go out there [you’re ready].”
DCH’s biggest rival is likely the Metro Athletic Dragons, a local team that will compete at two regattas – in Ithaca, N.Y., and Montreal – this July. The Dragons are notable for their members’ considerable range of ages; one of their younger paddlers, Hye-Kyung Yang, wrote in a club promotion that “I can’t say that I’ve accomplished everything that I wanted in my 23 years of life, but I wouldn’t trade in any moments of paddling with MAD for anything.”
Leung is also keeping an eye out for a few competitive teams from Philadelphia, Montreal and Wall Street. The showdown, six weeks away at Meadow Lake, is free to attend.
