The RAN Dragon Boat team gives its all in pursuit of victory during the International Dragon Boat Festival in Penang. Photo: LS Peter Lewis.

The champion RAN dragon boat team has placed a close fourth in the final of the 2001 International Dragon Boat Festival in Penang, Malaysia, from June 13-20.

Competing against national teams rated as the best in the world, the RAN team from HMAS CERBERUS placed fourth in both its finals - the Penang International Invitational and the Penang Sponsor Trophy Challenge.

The competition this year was held on Menkeung Lake, a fresh-water lake 45 minutes from the city of Penang, with many teams using the competition as a trial for the world championships in New York in August.

Unfortunately, the RAN team has had to pull out of the world championships due to operational commitments and the large amount of money required to fund the trip.

Thus team captain/coach CPO Michael Winter took his paddlers to Penang for their 'last hurrah' of this year's dragon boat season, with high expectations after recent success at the world qualifying championship in Darwin.

Against high quality teams from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines and Malaysia, Navy began with a second placing in the first heat, which put them straight into the final of the invitational race.

Race two saw the RAN place third, just .01-of-a-second behind Hong Kong, putting them into a repechage the next day for the trophy challenge section.

A second placing in the repechage saw the RAN paddlers gain a place in the final held later in the afternoon, with team members fired up for a big performance following last year's effort where they won all three finals.

The finals produced some nail-biting action as the teams jostled for the lead, however the RAN placed fourth in both, with only one second separating the first four boats.

"Winning is great, but it is not everything and these boys truly gave it their best shot," Michael said.

He added that the team lost four paddlers from its Darwin effort, which may have changed the result, however if they had recorded the same time as last year, they would have won again.

However, one first was still recorded - that being a 'drum-cam' that provided valuable training footage of the paddlers from a camera inserted in the boat's drum.

As with every team, most of this crew will disband, as every year brings a new side together, while Michael is also likely to end his association with the RAN dragon boat team due to a new posting.

"From the five years I've been doing this, there's some great achievements and very sweet memories," he said.

Michael thanked all the team's sponsors who helped achieve these fantastic results, those being: MTU Australia, RANCCB, Cerberus Travel, Smart Cover, Lifetness, Kellog's, Defcredit, Centra, Topcut, SMA, the Navy and all personnel at HMAS CERBERUS.

By Michael Weaver