THE UST Tiger Dragons Rowing Crew capped the school year in winning fashion, steering its way to a silver medal in the fifth Inter-collegiate Manila Sea Sports Festival last March 26 at the Manila Bay.
The España-based rowers’ bridesmaid tag came with a new team record of three minutes and 7.06 seconds in the 750-m course, an improvement from their previous record of five minutes. De La Salle University won the race with a 3:00.97 mark, while San Beda College was third with 3:07.44.
“It was an unexpected and hard-fought win for we have not trained as a crew for a month because we had to attend to our studies,” team captain Chris Cueto told the Varsitarian.
UST managed to finish second through the choppy waters with 15 male and five female rowers in their lineup, including seven greenhorns, against all-male crews from UP, Philippine Christian University, and San Beda.
“Our solid teamwork and trust in God’s guidance pulled us through the tough situation,” said Cueto, a UST Graduate School student.
The Tiger Dragons had a medal-rush after finally being recognized as the University’s official rowing team last year, capturing a gold in the Environmental Races (June 2005), a silver in the National Dragonboat Races (September 2005), and a bronze in the Jam 88.3 Dragonboat Regatta (January 2006).
The Thomasian boat racers are set to take their rowing prowess to the international arena, preparing for the Penang International Dragon Boat Festival in Malaysia in May and the Thailand International Swan Boat Races in September.
The Manila Sea Sports Festival was organized by the City Council of Manila in 2002. Llanesca T. Panti
