Coach Rob Chang, drummer Liane Nugent, Roberto, and paddlers Moshe Kim, San Yong, and Jeff Mesina pose it up for a Nike photographer

On July 27, 2003, the Piranhas Dragonboat Racing Crew entered eleven entries into the Nike 10km TO (http://www.runto.ca) Road Race at Center Island. Coach Rob Chang and ten of his paddlers posted some strong times in the field of roughly 7500 runners of varying calibre.

Since the Nike 10 km race was marketed as a long distance race for anyone and everyone, the atmosphere at the race was intimidation-free and provided an opportunity for the stronger runners on the team to continue chipping away at their personal best times, and for the team's many first-time competitive runners to strut their stuff with the least amount of pressure.

Veteran runners Roxana Su and Delia Chan led the way for the women of the Piranhas by posting some strong times. Roxana and Delia posted times of 47:35 and 51:21 respectively to finish 37th and 123rd overall out of the 1024 women in the women's 25-29 age category. We wish both Roxana and Delia the best of luck as they continue their marathon-distance training for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, Jaime Yamashita raced in her 3rd 10km race in the last twelve months while Daniela Dighi finished a strong 171st in the 20-24 women's category in her first 10 km race ever. Congratulations are also in order for our drummer, Liane Nugent, also running her first race.

Moshe Kim plowed through the field with a huuuuge effort, finishing 184th overall and 20th in the 20-24 men's category with a sizzling time of 41:08. In his second race ever, Jason Au posted a personal best of 42:47 to finished 33rd in his category and 308th overall. In addition, Andrew Hawkins and Jeff Mesina also posted sub-50 minute times (47:58 and 48:21 respectively). Congratulations to Jeff, as he posted a strong time despite having to weave through slower runners in his start wave. Lesson learned: head to the front of the pack if possible! San Yong, another Piranha who only started running this year, posted a time of 52:52. Coach Rob Chang also participated, finishing the race in 54:09.

The team will continue running throughout the off-season with the intention of winning the team title for the MCC Chilly Willy 11km in December.