While many teams headed off to 'La Belle Province' for the Montreal Dragon Boat Festival, a number of strong crews drove in the opposite direction to Waterloo, Ontario for the Kiwanis Dragon Boat Festival of Waterloo Region. Featuring a number of highly-competitive teams, the Grand Championship final featured six boats that travelled together down the entire course in what appeared to be a dead heat. However, after a review of the video tape, the University of Toronto Piranhas edged out the Assante Hammerheads by 0.02 to repeat as Grand Champions at the Kiwanis Dragon Boat Festival of Waterloo Region, while claiming their third straight Ontario Universities and Colleges Championships. Completing a repeat of their own, the Scream'n Demons won their second straight Waterloo Open title, edging out a very strong field.

In 2002, many of last year's top contenders returned to the Laurel Creek Conservation Area such as the Stratford Women, Toronto Women, DILLIGAFF and of course, last year's runners up by 0.01 seconds, the Scream'n Demons. Further adding to the depth of the field were the Assante (TTA) Hammerheads. The event also saw the return of Stratford powerhouse Dragons of Steel and the Flying Sisters who reincarnated and joined forces as the Hunter Steel Dragonhunters.

Once again, the event was divided up into a University Championship and an Open Championship. All teams were guaranteed three races - with the first races dividing teams into their appropriate divisions, and a semi-final to allot teams in consolation and championship finals. The top teams from both divisions, as well as the four next best teams raced in a second race to decide the Grand Champions of the event. In between it all were some fun mens and womens 250m challenges, which served as a cherry on the top of this well run festival.

The Piranhas' first race saw them draw lane number 6 in an expanded Waterloo race course. With a consistent stroke rate, the Piranhas clocked a time of 2:15.34, good enough for the second fastest time of the day, behind the Hunter Steel Dragonhunters.

That time was not the second fastest for very long. The Hammerheads, fresh off a 2nd place showing at TIDBRF Community, posted the fastest time of the entire festival, clocking a time of 2:12 and change, while the Scream'n Demons clocked a time in the 2:14's. However, because the Piranhas were entered in the University Division, they had easily secured the top time out of the twelve University crews present, and would only have to win over a weaker field than the open teams to advance to the Grand Championship final.

The Piranhas were matched up with 5 other teams whose placements were odd-numbered (seeds 1,3,5,7,9,11), and the top three teams would advance to the University "A" final. Drawing lane 3, the Piranhas were surrounded by two teams from the University of Waterloo - the Mad Paddlers on the left in lane two and Team Ruckus in lane four -a team that had consistently finished several tenths of a second from the Piranhas every time they went head to head. Rounding out the field were the University of Guelph Undercurrents of Greatness in lane 1, U of W Conrad Grebel College in lane 5 and the U of W Graduate Student Association in lane 6. In this race, the Piranhas used a strong start to break away from the pack and then paddled a very technically sound race at about 80% power to cruise to victory in a time of 2:16.15, roughly seven seconds ahead of second place Team Ruckus, who were followed by Guelph, Grebel, the Mad Paddlers and the UW Graduate Students.

With both qualifying heats over, the Piranhas had four hours to rest and recuperate before two narrowly spaced races - the University Championship and the Grand Championship, so in their usual low key nature, the Piranhas went to sleep. Focused on winning, many Piranhas slept through the Men's and Women's 250 metre sprints, which the team opted out of. For the most part, the conduct of the Piranhas was admirable, and they were great ambassadors for the sport. At an event that showcases the province's University-level talent, they were amicable and gracious when compliments came their way from other University Teams striving for success. Except for one glaring situation.

While the author of this article was taking a twenty-minute nap on his reclining chair, paddler Sarah Martin, noticed that his mouth was wide open while he was sleeping. She also saw a box of Timbits that had somehow mysteriously made its way over to the Piranha camp without the knowledge of iron-fisted coach and ruler, Rob Chang. She looked at Jason's open mouth, she looked at her box of Timbits. Silently walking over to the author's chair, she gently placed a timbit in his mouth to see what would happen, fully aware of the dangers of asphyxiation. However, Jason was not to be outdone, because he was awoken despite Ms. Martin's evil scheme. Keeping his eyes closed, he began to eat the timbit to spite those who allowed such a travesty to continue, and in triumph, he got up from his chair, and ate another Timbit. And the Timbit was good. And so, the evil scheme was foiled, and the Piranha webmaster prevailed.

....

The Piranhas raced their University Final against the other top three teams from each heat. This field was noticeably weaker than its semi-final heat, not to mention louder. The Waterloo Fast and the Furious. who loaded to the left of the Piranhas, started the infamous Waterloo school cheer, shouting "Water water water", with Ruckus completing the cheer by shouting "Loo loo loo!" in return. Unfazed, and accompanied by U of T University College, the Piranhas headed to the finish line with every intention of winning the race to win the right to compete in the Grand Championship. They accomplished the aforementioned in style, with their third open water victory of the day, coming in at 2:14.51.

Right as the Piranhas got back to the docks, the Open Division championship began, and the Scream'n Demons prevailed at the finish line to repeat as Open Division Champs, narrowly beating out the rest of the pack which was led by Fox 22 and the Hammerheads. The lineup for the Grand Championship had been set and given several minutes to rest, the best of the University and Open Division would race for bragging rights, medals, jackets, fame and one huge championship trophy.

The Piranhas drew lane 4, and were sandwiched by fellow TIDBRF Community finalists on both sides - the Scream'n Demons in lane 3, while the Hammerheads drew lane 5. In lane 6 were the burly DILLIGAFF Dragons, and rounding out the field were Fox 22 and the Hunter Steel Dragonhunters in lanes 1 and 2 respectively. When the gun went off, all six teams went down the course together, with Dilligaff appearing to hold on to a narrow lead, with the Demons and Hammerheads shortly behind. The Piranhas were in 4th, right behind the Demons, with Fox 22 and the Dragonhunters slightly behind the leading pack of four. However, the teams were never separated by much more than a couple dragon heads. As the teams passed the second last set of buoys, the six teams neared the finish line and it was then when the Piranhas began to assert themselves. Thinking they were behind, the stroke rate rose, technique went out the window, and no one can describe it better than the team's spiritual leader, Tim Insigne:

"What happened next was something extraordinary; after relying on everything that we had learned throughout the course of this year, our conventional paddling technique was thrown out the window for the last 75 meters of the race. The rate skyrocketed, sitting up was kept at a bare minium, arms became 99% of the stroke, breathing certainly wasn't an option, and our heads remained down as we all clenched our teeth and gave each remaining stroke everything we had (even though we had practically nothing). As we were 10 strokes from the finish, the only thing that was going through my mind was just to keep going; keep going because you have to, and keep going because you have
19 other Piranhas depending on you... and right before the line, I closed my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, and hit and ripped through the water with everything I had until we passed the finish line."

The race finished in a dead heat, and only a couple paddlers (not on our boat) who thought they had won the race celebrated with violent whacks of their paddles on the water. Everyone else was silent, because it was hard to tell who had actually crossed the finish line first. Last year, our drummer, Liane, knew we won as we crossed the finish line, and that race was won by 0.01 seconds. This year, Liane had no clue. Dismay filled the Piranha boat, as they interpreted their coach's stoic face and body language as a sign that they did not win. We did everything we could, and faces were glum as we high-fived each other. I personally had a splitting headache from exerting so much, and right-side rocket Daphne Geslani said it best, "I feel like I'm going to puke." Indicative of the friendly relationship between our two teams, the Scream'n Demons joined our lineup and high-fived and shook hands with us before the outcome of the race was announced.

Coach Rob did not look happy as we paddled back to the dock, but for some reason he was running to the marshalling area. Keeping his face as stoic as he could, he calmly said, "we won". And then for good measure, while all of us were congregated together in a circle, he yelled "WE WON".

And the Piranhas, overwhelmed with joy, yelled at the top of their lungs, spraying each other with water and getting closer to each other than they ever have before. There were hugs all around, and tears of joy in the eyes of the first ever repeat champs of the Waterloo festival. The Piranhas had won by 0.02 seconds, doubling their victory margin from the previous year. We had worked so hard, and stuck to our race plan to the tee, and in the end, every bit of effort of was worth it. While we were admittedly not short of breath in any of our first three races, we had genuinely given it all in the final, and were thankful that the gods shone favourably on us yet again.

** Grand Champions and Ontario University Champions
* Open Division Champions