Jaime Yamashita and Jason Au skipped their team's mandatory 5-kilometre fitness test run on Saturday, December 7, 2002. But this was probably the first time Coach Rob Chang not only tolerated, but approved of an avoidable absence from practice. The day after, on a chilly Sunday afternoon, two members of the Piranhas Dragonboat Crew competed in the 92-competitor 11km Chilly Willy Road Race presented by the Mississauga Canoe Club, placing near the top of their respective gender divisions, attaining their goals for the day. Jaime Yamashita posted a time of 59:26 (5:24/km) to place 19th out of all female competitors, while Jason Au posted a time of 48:54 (4:27/km) to finish 9th in the men's division.

This was the first foray into competitive distance running for these two paddlers. Originally intending to run shorter distances, decided to take the plunge into the ice-bath of a race that is the Chilly Willy. With a low of -6 degrees celsius forecasted for the day, the weather actually stayed reasonable until after our two Piranhas passed the finish line, when they were greeted with heavy winds and snowfall.

Quoting "theNurse" from the dragon boat forum, the race course followed the following path: the course began "at the foot of Lakeshore Promenade in Mississauga (near the Mississauga Sailing Club), going west for a short ~500m loop, then east for a 5k loop, following the waterfront trail to Marie Curtis park in Etobicoke." The day's conditions would mean that runners would start with the wind at their backs, but it meant running into a headwind for the final 5 or 6 kilometres.

Having received some words of wisdom from the team's own half-marathon specialist, Roxana Su about hydration, carb loading, and race strategies, our newly minted distance runners were ready to run. However, each paddler had their own unique challenges to overcome during the race.

Jaime spent the first 8 kilometres trailing behind a runner/paddler from the Mayfair Predators, who wore her Mayfair jacket around her waist in a way such that the words "MAYFAIR" stared back at Jaime for those initial 8 kilometres. Finishing behind Mayfair was something that the Piranhas did twice at the Pickering Dragonboat Challenge. However, events unfolded a little differently at the Chilly Willy. With 3 kilometres to go in the race, Jaime passed the Mayfair jacket-wearing athlete for good to finish the 11 km in under an hour - fulfilling her training goal for the race. The cold weather got to Jason early, as he developed shin splints 3 km into the race. In subzero temperatures, both athletes were presented with adversity and overcame their situation to meet their respective training goals - Jaime's goal of finishing under an hour and Jason's goal of finishing under 50 minutes.

Final Results (link to MCC Website)