With the Mississauga Canoe Club not returning to the Community Division in Toronto, the coveted TIDBRF championship was up for grabs in a contest between some evenly matched contenders. In a photo finish, long-time nemesis Tempest edged out the Hammerheads DBC and the Mayfair Predators with a powerful finish. The pack was rounded out by two perennial A finalists, the Piranhas DBC and the Blades (formerly Baycrest), and a combo-crew of senior paddlers from past dragon boat juggernauts aptly named Out of Nowhere.

The Piranhas defeat the Mojos in a key morning qualifying matchup

The morning session of qualifying saw Baycrest, Tempest, Thrusting Mojos, Piranhas DBC and Hanalei duke it out against each other. After these teams completed their first heats of the day, Tempest posted the slowest time out of all the known contenders at the festival. Baycrest and the Mojos were in control posting the two fastest times, with the Piranhas and Blades following suit. The second races drastically shifted the rankings. The Blades posted a strong time of 2:02.36, the Piranhas beat out the Mojos in a key head-to-head battle, and then Tempest shot their way up to the top with a sizzling time of 2:01.35, nearly improving by four seconds over their first heat. Tempest was the team to beat from the morning session.

The afternoon session of qualifying saw another group of strong teams head out onto a course which was increasingly getting faster over the course of the day. The Hammerheads DBC, Mayfair, and the Cascades (Cas-CAHdes) CC Draveurs. participating as a guest crew were the fastest teams in the draw and the teams from the morning session could only hope and pray that their times would hold up just enough to still guarantee them spots the "A" final. The Hammerheads edged out Cascades in their first heat, Out of Nowhere posted an impressive 2:03 and served notice to the competition, and the Predators posted a 2:02 in their first heat and eclipsed Tempest's time with a time of 2:00.54 in their second race. The Hammerheads, racing possessed and determined, followed up with a huge statement race, coming in at 1:57.31. Going into the final, the seeding was as follows: Hammerheads, Mayfair, Tempest, Baycrest, Piranhas and Mayfair.

At the end of Saturday's races, the Junior Division Championship Races were held. Mississauga CC's junior team posted a time of 2:00.74 to capture the "A" Divison Championship, nearly five seconds ahead of Mowat "A" and "B". One of the two Canadian National Junior Dragon Boat Teams which will be competing in Shanghai at the Worlds in October is being built around a core of Mowat paddlers and we all wish the best of luck to them in the fall. Dunbarton beat out Mowat "C" for the B divison championship, while Woburn C.I. captured the C division.

On Sunday, Gilda's Dragons took the BCS Survivor Cup, the Junior Achievement of Central Ontario Komodo Dragons won the Education Cup in a tight finish over staff members from L'Amoreaux CI while ETT 3 took the "B" Division of the Education Cup. The University Cup podium was swept by the University of Toronto with University College's Waterdragons, the New College New Dragons and the Engineering Faculty's Iron Dragons finishing 1-2-3. Even the "B" Final was won the University of Toronto's Victoria College ViCrew, who were followed by a wash-assisted finish by the University of Toronto of Mississauga who jumped on the wash of third place finishers from the University of Waterloo's Fast and the Furious and slingshotted over this rookie crew on the finish. The Hospital Cup was won handily by the resurgent St. Joe's Healthcare Centre. The Industry Cup was won by GWN Huron, which nudged the Dragon Boat World Imperial Dragons at the finish, while Flexogan and the Champions Shogun Warriors won the Pharmaceutical and Hospitality Cups respectively. The Technology Cup was won by Paddles in Unisen, and the highly competitive Bankers Cup was captured by the BMO Financial Group's First Dragons. The International Mixed, Womens and Open Races were won by Cascades CC, the Tour East Women (GTDBC Crewsers, who nudged out the Montreal Women at the finish line) ) and Tour East Men (GTDBC "A") respectively.

In the C Division Final, the Mofos powered their way to their best placement at TIDBRF barely nudging out the two-time champion Sinai Lightning. The Thrusting Mojos nudged out Hanalei in another close finish to take the B division championship.

The "A" Final field makes it way towards the finish line with less than fifty metres to go

The scene was set for the "A" Division Final, with the Hammerheads and Predators assuming the two best lanes in the festival, lanes four and three respectively. Tempest and the Blades, the third and fourth seeds, took lanes five and two respectively, while fifth and sixth seeds, Piranhas DBC and Out of Nowhere, drew lanes six and one respectively. This was anyone's race. The Hammerheads, 1998 TIDBRF champions, were on a tear after a strong fourth place finish in a deep Pickering Field. The Predators were racing for the first time since their 2003 GWN Grand Championship victory. Tempest looked strong after a brilliant 2003 campaign and solid Pickering "A" Consolation appearance, and the Blades and Piranhas were both making their fourth straight A Final appearances. Out of Nowhere had established themselve as a force and no one knew what to expect. Cascades CC was added as an exhibition crew to round out the field with a seventh boat paddling outside of the race course. When the race gun went off, all teams went off the line together and it appeared as if no one had control of the race. Approaching the finish, however, Cascades had built up a formidable lead over the entire pack. Tempest called their finish and with the exception of Cascades, every other boat followed. The Hammerheads and Predators inched along them as Out of Nowhere began to seriously fade from the rest of the pack. Close to the finish line, there was a collision between Baycrest and Mayfair which undoubtedly affected the outcome of the race. The rebuilding Piranhas seemed to get lost in the finish and seemed out of the race as the other boats pulled away. The race ended in a dead heat, and as the boats went in, no one was quite sure who had won.

When the times were posted, whited out and then posted again, it turned out that Cascades had separated themselves sufficiently from the rest of the field and won the race. Tempest had won out over the Hammerheads and Mayfair, who were followed by the Piranhas DBC, Blades and Out of Nowhere. Congratulations to a well-deserving veteran crew for finally coming through against the odds and proving that the first seed does not always win the race. They put their destiny into their own hands, refocused and won the second biggest prize of the dragon boat racing season -- a partially-subsidized trip to any dragon boat festival in North America.

(Update: July 20) Since this race, the Piranhas DBC has seen their ranking and respectability plummet. Having begun the year ranked 9th in Eastern Canada they have since fallen to 16th and the dragon boat community has written us off. 2004 has very much resembled the team's 2001 season and it remains to be seen whether or not the team has enough in it to redeem itself in the season's second half.

Full results can be found here.