Team Philosophy, Team Spirit

Captain Laurie reminded us in January of the Paddlefish Philosophy:

Everyone who wants to race gets a chance to race. The Paddlefish want to be competitive, have fun, improve personal fitness, enjoy the camaraderie of being on a team, share a love of being outdoors and on the water and party with a wonderful diverse group of people---not necessarily in that order.

The memories of Toronto, captured in our photos, are a good reinforcement of that spirit!

More from Toronto

Pittsburgh Paddlefish with winner's trophy: first place in the C Premier Mixed Final at TIDBRF2006! (Thanks for the great photo, Sarah!)

For more photos of the weekend, see Jonathan's blog gallery at http://pittbritt.typepad.com/photos/toronto/index.html or Kit's flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitpfish .

And speaking of pictures.... our team photo will be taken next Wednesday, July 5th, at the beginning of practice. Paddle cheers to Richard Barlow of the DBL for serving as official team photographer!

Congratulations, Paddlefish!

Woo-hoooo! Great job, everybody!

The Paddlefish mixed team came in FIRST in the C Premier Mixed Final in Toronto this weekend, and the Paddlefish women came in 2nd in the B Premier Women's Final!

Fantastic effort from the whole team, a great weekend with friends, and finding a growing cheering section with every race -- we couldn't ask for more.

"See Serpents": City Paper Story

"Sweatless," eh? We might need to invite her back to another workout....

http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/archive.cfm?type=Misc.%20Stories&action=getComplete&ref=6330

TRRA Benefit Dinner

Hmmm.... where are our PFDs?

Susan Clendenin, TRRA Board President, announced at Saturday's dinner that the Washington's Landing boathouse will be named the Mike Lambert Boathouse.

Monday Miscellany

Random thoughts on a rainy Monday morning....

• The Paddlefish got a shout-out from the Brillo Box stage last night. There's a first!
  
• Three paddlefish were caught in the Allegheny below Lock 3 last month. They're baaaaaaack!
  
• Weights this week: 3 sets of 3 for the primaries (bench press and lat pulldowns one day; cable rotations and squats the other); two sets of 8 for the secondaries (flies, dumb-bell sit-ups, tricep raises, etc.).
  
• War of the Worlds is showing at Flagstaff Hill (across from Phipps Conservatory) on Wednesday night, after practice. Bring a blanket and a bag of popcorn!
  
• Three Rivers Regatta Dragon Boat Races are scheduled for Sunday, July 2nd, starting at 3:30 PM. Races will be on the Allegheny, on the south shore (in front of the stone 'bleachers'down at the Point). Please plan to be there from 3 PM till 6 PM. If you can help move the docks down on Saturday, let me know!
  
• The fireworks are Tuesday night, July 4th at 9:30 PM.
  
• Does your butt deserve the best? Check out this IDBF-approved butt pad!
  

Getting Ready for Toronto!

Paddlefish women competing in the Premier Women's Division at Toronto next week take a break before our scrimmage with Steel City.... (from left: Jeanne, Carolyn, Sophie, and Jen)

Paddlefish in Parsippany

Toronto Race Schedule

The race schedule for the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival is now online.

Saturday's heats are set by team. Sunday's finals will be determined by heat results.

Paddlefish Women's Boat:

(1) Saturday, 10:20 AM ==> HEAT 4 (vs the Wonderbroads, Spirit of Oster Lady Dragons, Les Dragonesses, and Cobourg Tsugoi Women)

(2) Saturday, 13:20 PM ==> HEAT 8 (vs Spirit of Osler Lady Dragons, Les Dragonesses, S'wet Bandits, and Drag'n Blades)

Paddlefish Mixed Boat:

(1) Saturday, 14:50 PM ==> HEAT 29 (vs Beneteau Bateau, JOI Luck Club, Scotia Rouge, BI Dragons, and Water Warriors)

(2) Saturday, 17:00 PM ==> HEAT 39 (vs Rock the Boats, Water Warriors, Beneteau Bateau, Leap'n Lizards, and the Wall Street Dragons

Paddlefish Meet Mayor of Tianan, Taiwan

The Pittsburgh Paddlefish join the DC Dragons as guests of the Mayor of Tianan, Taiwan! The American team, including paddlers from Pittsburgh, competed in the city's huge dragon boat festival, coming in 2nd to a young Philippines team.

The Americans garnered a lot of attention, becoming national media darlings as news stories and interviews of the team were played on TV stations throughout Taiwan and China.

(Photo credit goes to Carolyn Newkirk, second from the left with the big grin!)

Scrimmaging

Last night's set of Men vs Women scrimmages was a lot of fun and a great chance to practice and enact our race plans! The men held their own, even though they were short a few benches. (The pitchers of Yuengling over at Grant's Bar afterwards helped make it an even better evening!)

Next week's scrimmage opportunity is Wednesday evening, June 14th: Paddlefish vs Steel City Dragons. Don't miss it!

Taiwan: Dragon Boat Racing at Night

Here's a photo from Judy L. of the Taiwan race site: competition in the dark!

Stay tuned for more pictures from Judy's collection....

VO Festival Scrimmage

Morning scrimmage with Junior Pfish at the 2006 Venture Outdoors Festival.

(Photo credit goes to Ann's partner Robert!)

Parsippany Report

The Parsippany Friendship races included Paddlefish, pink carnations, and a lot of precipitation. See http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060604/COMMUNITIES38/606040358/1203 for more.

Rumor has it that Laurie and Judy received attention as paddlers in the most winning boats!

China Post

The China Post has this to say about the American team (organized by DC's David Winter and supported with Pittsburgh paddlers) that competed in Taiwan this past week: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/archive/detail.asp?cat=1&id=83220 .

"Endless delicacies," eh? And we all thought they'd gone over there to sweat a lot....