629 rowers from 61 teams descended upon Toronto's CBC Atrium for the 2004 Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships (CIRC) on February 8, 2004. The Piranhas Dragon Boat Club was only non-rowing club present at the event, but it represented the dragon boat community well. Mark Daly finished third in the highly contested Novice Open Men's 1000 metre category with a time of 3:19, while Jason Au finished fourth in the Senior A Lightweight Men's 2000 metre category with a time of 7:04.1.

Mark Daly accepts his medal from former Olympic/National Team rower Marnie McBean

CIRC was not only Mark's first competitive experience as a Piranha, but it was Mark's first foray into competitive ergometer racing. However, drawing from his experience as a former Varsity crew member at the University of Toronto, Mark remained unfazed in a field that probably went a little too fast off the start. Maintaining roughly a 1:40-1:45 split time over his first 500 metres, Mark gradually creeped up on his competition from the middle of the pack and settled right into second place after claiming first place for a short period of time. On top of that, Mark had enough steam to pick up his 500 metre split below 1:40 as he began his final 500 metres, and it was clear that Mark was a legitimate contender to take it all. However, as he began to silently creep up behind the first place finisher, fatigue became a factor. The battle for second was lost, but he did create a significant lead between himself and fourth place finisher that he had virtually locked in the bronze with 100 metres to go.

Jason Au heads off to an early lead on the competition in the Open Lightweight 2000m

Jason was last year's third place finisher in the Novice Open Men's 1000 metre race, and as a training challenge, he thought he would try his hand at the 2000 metre race this year. Other competitors in his division included the former Captain of the Don Rowing Club, and varsity rowing veterans from the Universities of Western Ontario and Guelph. With the intention of going for the gold, Jason's strategy was to put together a strong 1000 metres, relax for the next 500 metres and then hope for the best in the final 500 metres. The first 1000 metres went well for Jason, as his 500 metre split time at the end of the first 1000 metres was 1:34.5 and saw Jason take a slight lead. The next 1000 metres proved that his race plan had over-estimated his conditioning. After slipping into third place, he had nothing left to give with 300 meters to go when his split fell down into the 1:50s out of absolute fatigue. The lesson learned about pacing differently for a 2000 metre race was learned the hard way, and redemption will have to come in a year's time.

Taking into consideration that valuable competitive experience our rower-paddlers gained and the fact that the Piranhas made the podium for the second straight year in a field of highly competitive rowers, the event was a success for the team. They hope to continue their winning ways at the Mayfair Erg Classic on February 28, 2004.