Paddling with the KL Barbarians Dragon Boat Team - Putrajaya

The year 2019 is upon us and after all that partying towards the end of last year, it’s probably time to look at those resolutions to get fit and healthy once again.

So here I am, sharing a little bit of my 2 year experience journeying as a member of a well-established dragon boat team paddling out of Putrajaya, Malaysia. The team name? None other than the KL Barbarians ;)

Dragon boating is gaining popularity, my participation started via an Introductory Workshop almost two years ago. Back then, I was invited by a friend who was an active member of the team. I agreed to join her just to ‘test the water’.

Paddlers come in various shapes, ages, sizes, creeds and what have you :)

I quickly found a group of like-minded friends and from that point onwards it was lots of training and many races to participate.

Racing in the Sarawak River, Kuching. Can you spot me? ;) I have the nicest arm. ;)

A regular training day usually falls on a weekend with Putrajaya Lake offering the best place to paddle, both the Lake Club Putrajaya and Marina Putrajaya have dragon boats for the public to rent for training.

The training day starts early in the morning like about 7.45am. Although we love the sun, we also cannot take too much of sun as well, so we hope to finish the training session by 10.00am before it really gets too toasty. 

What do you do every weekend? You wake up early and do warm ups by the beautiful Putrajaya Lake of course... and then Dragon Boating! ;)

Warm ups on land will be required prior to getting into our line ups for the day. Once that is sorted out, then we’ll get into the boat.

The dragon boat paddling crew is generally divided into three groups:

·         The pacers – a group of paddlers in the boat that literally sets the paddling pace for the rest of the crew. They sit at the front of the boat and usually occupy the first 3 rows of benches from the prow in a 22 member configuration

·         The engines –  they are the powerhouses of the boat. Usually consisting of the bigger, stronger and heavier members of the crew, the engines are tasked to push the boat through the water through sheer grit and force

·         The rockets – they occupy the last 3 bench. Slimmer and lighter than the engines, they provide the last needed push for the boat to pick up speed and as the water is already quite ‘light’ from the engine’s push, the rockets would have to be agile enough to reach further in front, pull and recover in sync with the rest of the boat.

To complete the 22 member configuration, we have a steerer and a drummer, but during training the drummer will be replaced with the coach who will run the crew through a set of predetermined training drills meant to increase strength and improve endurance.

Paddling Positions in the Dragon Boat. Where do you think you'd be seated based on the criteria discussed? 

The ultimate test of our training is the races which we participate throughout the year – locally and internationally.

The KL Barbarians team had participated in races held internationally such as in Boracay, Incheon, Adelaide and even Inner Mongolia!

Our proud team representing Malaysia paddling in of all places, Inner Mongolia!

I am not kidding on the Inner Mongolia part, except that instead of paddling on water, we paddled on ice, hence the event being called International Ice Dragon Boat Series ;) In some of the examples mentioned above, the organizers of the races would even sponsor hotel and food to participants in an effort to boost sign ups. So, how about that? Free lodging and food and you also get to visit nice places to paddle.

Now, aside from making many new friends, going to exotic places to paddle and getting to know even more exotic new friends, what other benefit is there to dragon boating?

Oh yeah! Team work is what gets the boat moving! Look at the determination! 

Well, it’s undoubtedly the health and mental benefits of course! You will certainly be burning off your gut due to the fact that the sport requires a good amount of cardiovascular effort, about 350~450 calories per hour!

A lot of our training requires physical effort to move the boat through the water and that means 2 hours of resistance training - you’re going to gain hard solid muscle, lean and mean ;)

There is also the mental aspect. Dragon Boating is a team sport. To borrow a quote from our Team Captain, "unlike other team sports like football, rugby or basketball, there are no superstars in a dragon boat crew". Everyone has to put in effort to get the boat pass the finish line and everyone is depending upon the other to meet this common goal. And this is team work. We motivate each other, we want the other to succeed because being on the literal same boat, if one fails, everyone else will too.  So no prima donnas, just us!

So why not consider taking up dragon boating as a sport this new year 2019 and fulfill that nagging resolution to get fit and healthy? My team is currently recruiting new members for the coming season. Open to all ages, both genders, cultures and varying levels of physical fitness. Come and literally test water at the Putrajaya Lake Club every weekend in the month of January 2019. Details below:-