Yup, Hao Qing and I didn't make it to the Finals. 4th place at the Heats didn't get us much. But hey, the fact that we got 4th compared to other pro rowers says a lot by itself already. And besides, even if I don't get my name in the papers or a trophy of sheer colours or a fake scroll at Honours' Day, I feel like that doesn't matter as badly. And why?
Because God and my parents came to watch.
And that's all I needed to be satisfied. Even if they saw me lost, they were still there. And after that, I rushed back to school to help out in Inter-Class Debate which we won, so I didn't loose everything today! But enough with the mushy-mushy, let's get into the action...
It all starts early in the morning. I recieved an SMS last night telling me to report to Bedok at 7.30 for briefing and warming-up. A quick rice-based breakfast and I went to my room to pack my bags. I checked my time-table to estimate what lessons I might miss, and so packed accordingly. I ended up with two sling bags across both sides, and soon set off with my paddle to the reserviour. Once I got there, I walked alone the rubbled path towards the newly-installed boat sheds about 400 or more meters away.
Just then, I almost startled in shock when I heard Mr. See's voice. "I see you, Raemiguel," he said in a calm tone. Looking towards whereer the voice came from, I saw Mr. See beside a still electricity generator, looking at his phone. Observing the other bags in front of him, I assumed we were to gather over there, so I went over to place my bags and paddle down.
Monkeys then started appearing around the sheds and were making a slight racket in the place. "If you want, I can do a live disection in front f you," said sir, who took his eyes off the phone just when the monkeys were reaching our school's shed. I mumbled a soft laughter, then got down to my bags to check that everything was there.
Mr. See saw that I brought my tablet bag, so he wondered why I'd be bringing my laptop all the way here. I explained to him that they were my files and that I was going to return to school after this. He nodded with a firm, "Hmm." and went back to his phone. He the told me that Daniel and the others who were already here were further up the path to search for the 500m Mark, and adviced me to check it out.
For those who haven't seen/notice Bedok's tracks, they're not the kind that's convenient to paddlers around here. For one thing, the buoys aren't at specific intervals, so you have to commit to memory which particular buoys of the entire set are the 500 buoys. I agreed, and ran off to Daniel to see where the line was, after that returning back to the generator to wait for others to come.
Slowly, but surely, they came one by one or pair by pair or cluster by cluster, and soon most of the 'C' Division, along with much of the 'B' Division, were present. By around this time, the staff in-charge of the equiptment around here were starting up the generators, so Mr. See told us to move further up the road so we didn't get dosages of carbon monoxide before our races.
He later gathered us close and pointed out a few things we had to take note of in the race, using twigs and his pen for lanes, starting/finishing lines, boats and etc.. Another thing he pointed out was that the racing course wasn't the typical rectangular shape, but more of the inconvenient parallelogram shape.
At MacRitchie, we have our very own Mr. Goh to help us straighten the lanes and maintain it time after time. But in Bedok, not many people give as good attention to it as in MacRitchie, and even those who'd bother aren't in charged or permitted to be in charge of Bedok. Thus, as time goes by the buoys may loosen and end up twisting the shape of the course.
And as a result, you can never be certain that your bow had passed the finishing line yet by just looking left and right. Mr. See highlighted a mistake Abraham made yesterday. It was a tight match for third place in the heats between Chinese High and him, and AB was just at the lead of the two. But just as he was about to reach the finishing line, he looked left and right and thought that he made it through first already, so he slowed down thinking that he had already finished.
Well, he did finish before the other boat IF you were looking at it from the perpendicular view. Unfortunately, thoguh, the judges would only take the finishing line itself as the rough measurement of who came first and the sort, and that means the parallelogramic view. And it so happens that the tilt of the line alowed Chinese High to pass through first before Abraham did, even though AB was supposed to have crossed the perpendicular line first.
And which would the judges take? The parallelogram reading, of course! Why, they only have one camera to tell then who came first, and that camera is only in-line with the slanted finishing line, thus after watching the video over and over and over again, the judges decided to make Chinese High win over AB.
"So always make sure you sprint through the finishing line, gentlemen," noted sir. "If you want to be safe, wait till the boat is one-third through, then you can slow down. In fact, even one-fith through is good enough. Just one-fifth."
"In other words, till the line reaces you or your front rower," said Daniel, who was trying to help out as Captain.
"Yes, just one-fifth in, gentlemen. And then we also have wind conditions to settle. You all better have learnt your draw-strokes well, because here is a good place to use it."
Winds at Bedok are rather wild at times, especially in the afternoon. They always blow from the right of the lanes, and with the stern's greater exposed area this causes the boat to turn towards the right if you're not careful. Thus while you're lining up for your event, you shoudl always observe if you're drifting, and if you are then respond to where and at which direction you are drifting to - correctiong your direction while starting a sprint can cost you up to 3.5 seconds.
Soon, the organisers came to the area and unlocked the metal fence that protected the sheds which held our boats, of which canoeists of all schools of life rushed towards the area to collect their boats for warm-up. Right behind Saint Joseph's Institution, ACS(Independent) huddled towards the gates and went for our shed to grab out the lifejacks, seats, footrests, wingnuts, paddles and most importantly, boats.
After searching for where our items were within the scattered stack of equiptment, Hao Qing and I carried out the StingRay and assembled it somewhere nearby, later launching off for a rough warm-up. As can be seen as we walked closer to the shore, the wooden dock which was temporarily built along the shore was removed, so launching was going to be a lot harder and longer.
As a K2, we both went to this special pontoon which floated off the shore by a bridge. The only problem getting there was that the organisers haven't brought the key for the bridge yet, so with the help of coaches from other schools we had to climb over a fence with the boat securedly on our shoulders. A little funny tackling our way through the fence, but once that was over we paddled a couple of laps before returning to shore.
By now, the pontoon we launched from was already crouded with tonnes of other K2, so we had to pack up at a concrete slope near by. The problemS with this place is that on the slope, I may be able to feel the ground with my paddle, but Hao Qing may not AND that even if I wanted to paddle towards the slope, there were tonnes of boats also tryign to get out the same way. In our attempt to try getting on land, we ended up capsizing but quickly got the boat out of the way before the waves made it drift towards the rough concrete surface.
Back at the sheds, we gave Mr. See ezLink cards for registration. Placing the boat at a rack somewhere nearby, we proceeded to warm up along the coast as the first events began on the water (Go Ming Sheng, GO!). Mr. See later chased us away to another end of the coast when he saw that we were too close to the generator, which was producing enough gases to give Mr. See headaches on end.
Event after event went by. We watched, we cheered, we estimated. And in due time, I went to my bags to get my handphone just in case my parents SMSed me, which they apparently did. They were wondering if the competition was still on because it was raining moderately at their area, but I reassured them that the races were as normal where I was.
And around this time, it came to our event. Nick Ng just left, so now our turn is just around the corner. Event 14 could be called any minute now. Soon, Mr. See gave us the 'go' sign to launch off for our event. But as we bought the boat down from the racks, it began to drizzle. The winds were picking up, and the rain was increasing by the minutes. But haven' being told not to stop, Hao Qing and I continued to go launch.
As we were carrying the boat towards the pontoon, we had to tilt ourselves to the right to make sure the wind didn't blow us away along with the boat. I was giggling slightly with all the irony around and with the fact that rain meant a lot to me. Especially at a time like this. But as we went down the pontoon, the coaches were telling us to turn back, signaling that it was too dangerous to paddle now.
By now, the sky was extremely grey, and one couldn't speak without having 50ml of water going into the mouth every three sylabuls one says. It was rather scary - something like The Perfect Storm just that reduced to the scale of canoes - and so we turned and headed back for the sheds. When we arrived, we saw many canoers trying their best to hold down the boats onto the racks with their lifejacks or bare hands.
Not realising how strong the winds were, HQ and I placed StingRay on a close rack, only to realise 4 seconds later that it was just about to fly off. Nearby to the bow, I quickly ran back and caught the bow just in time to keep it from slipping off. Unfortunately, the stern was still free and it flew off by a couple of meters towards the neighbouring rack. At least it wasn't as bad as another boat which flung off and barely missed Mr. See by an inch or so, or the SJI rack that collapsed in the middle of the storm.
Thankfully to God, the rudder didn't have contact with the ground, so it didn't snap off. A couple of people rushed for the boat and slightly lifted it to allow me to slide the bow off the racks, then slowly release it onto the ground so the wind can't effect it anymore. With lots of people helping to keep the equiptment safe, Mr. See told the remainder of us to go to the ol' Pavilion just a little sprint away.
We all ran there, and soon the Pavilion was crouded with loads of ACS(I)an rowers trying to brave the cold temperatures (water freezes faster than air, so having both elements together...). Time after time, we would imitate the penguins in Happy Feet, saying lines like, "We remain!" or, "Keep your eggs warm!" or even, "Nah, I know you like it!". But despite whatever jokes were said, our skins still felt like 14 degrees or so and goosebumps were the norm.
After half an hour, te rains were starting to calm down, and we were greatly merry that the temperature was rising again! Soon, rain was back to a normal drizzle, and Nick Ng, HQ and I were called back into the water.
While Nick was getting to his event, HQ and I kept paddling around the 500m Mark of the tracks to wait for our turn. And as soon as ever, our time was up. We slowly paddled towards the Starting Line. After an entire year and three months worth of training, it all came down to this. This was it.
I could faintly hear the commands of the started at my farthest right.
"K2 500m Heats 1, alert!"
I looked straight towards the Finishing Line, making sure I had a straight route."Starts within 10 seconds!"
All paddles were raised in one swift move, and we were ready to launch off at the sound of...*air horn*
Here we go! All the boats burst out in a rage of fury as we raced for those three chances to make it to the Finals. We padddled our hearts out, but I could tell that my boat was already burning out by 250m. Nevertheless, we paddled on.Sadly, we didn't make it for even 3rd place, but just 4th place. Somewhat dissapointed, I held water and looked down in slight defeat. But then as I paddled towards the packing-up area, I noticed two distinct people within the slight croud. They were smiling at me, and one was holding a camera towards me. It was my parents.
I assumed that after that delay from the storm, they might not have stayed longer for my event. But they actually came, and in my presence! The momment I saw them, I lighted back up again, still defeated but nevertheless still loved. The feeling of being appreciated by your family no matter what you get is an honourable feeling, and that satisfies a medal hands down.
As we got out of the water, I carried my boat along the muddy path (and posed a bit for my parents to take photos) before arriving back at the sheds. At the shed, we placed g'd ol' StingRay back on the rack she was placed originally before reporting to Mr. See for debrief. He stated that "this was your whole year's work summed up, and it equals you both to 4th place. There is no disgrace in that, as long as you did your best."
We were then permitted dismissal, of which I searched for my bags and later found at the Pavilion. Over there, I decided to stay a little longer to cheer on Joon Sin and Kenneth for their K2 500m event. Might as well cheer on my avengers. They had a third placing, and after so I headed back to the shed to take my shoes and leave for the bus stop (which was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooog walk away).
If you've forgotten, I now needed to go to school for the Inter-Class Debate Finals. The fate of the class rested in my hands, since after all the replacement was Kirby (Hey, I'm quoting from others, so don't blame me for being blunt!). So my original plan to get there was to take a 67 to Bedok MRT Station to take a train to Dover, then take a bus/walk to school.
But just as I was about to board the 67, I realised that my ezLink card was still with Mr. See! I quickly got off the bus and stomped my way back to the shed, which mind you was the same looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooog walk away. This time I didn't care: I walked through all the grassy patches in the park and didn't follow any roads. My main objective was to make a straight line for the sheds, and no roads were gonna stop me in the state I was.
Once back at the shed, Mr. See didn't need to look up to see I was there, and immediately got out my card with a sarcastic, "And I was wondering when you would've realized." I responded with a soft, "Opps." and collected my card before making my looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooog way back to the bus stop again. By now, I didn't think I'd arrive at school early enough for the debate, so I decided to take Plan B! And what is Plan B?
Take taxi, lah!
I hailed a cab at the bus stop, and I hadf a friendly conversation with the driver in Mandarin (Yay! The fact I could hold a 10-minute conversation with the guy without any mess-ups is a great miracle! Praise the Lord Almighty!) Later, I also asked if I could change in the cab, which he willingly allowed (or at least he sounded like as if he was willing). I first stripped of my shirt and replaced it with a uniform shirt, then worked my way down until everything I wore for the race was replaced with a uniform's item (exception being the watch, 'cause it's practically under both categories).
After changing, I took out my Debate notes and read through them over and over again so I knew by scratch what I needed to say. And within minutes, the uncle alerted me that we were near by, so I had to help direct him to ACS(I) instead of ACJC (both are near-by each other, for those who don't know). I told him to drop me off at the school's bus stop, placed the finishing touches onto my uniform and made my way down and up the ramp to school, slinging my large water bottle from the handle like it was a Western pistol.
I seemed to have blended in rather fast, like as if I had always been in the school during the morning. Or did I just have a Sportsman's Immunity which repelled the security guards or something, I don't know. From the Space Frame, I met up with most of the class, which was making their seperate ways to their respective Enrichment Programmes. They informed me that the classroom was lcked, so I had to place my bags in my locker for the time being.
On my way, I met up with Ryan, who was shocked to see me at school, when he knew very well I was suppose to be at a competition, or else already dismissed and headed home. I explained to him I had somehtings to attend to in the school, so he teased me as a workaholic. He then asked what I got, so I said I didn't make it to the Finals. He was shocked again that I wasn't afraid he'd do something because of admitting my failure, but nevertheless went back to his lessons later.
I kept my stuff in my locker and made a dash for the 'unkown-area-somewhere-in-the-boarding-school' room (man, I still don't know the name of that room...) for my EP of Billards. When I arrived, the Mdm in-charge was just about to take attendance, with her back facing the door. Perfect! While she was still talking to the rest of the students that were surrounding the pool table, I quietly took off my shoes and quickly tip-toes towards the table, slowl leaning against the edge in a relaxed position as if I had been there all this while.
After she went through whatever she needed to go through, we queued up for our ques (har, har) and got our balls ready (har, har, heh). With alert instincts fresh from a race, I caught a triangle or two before it fell on Mdm from the top of the shelves. Man, race instincts feel good.
For me, I tried Billards first, then a simple game of Pool. Well worth the hour, even though I couldn't score that much. Yet. When we were done, I went back to class with Raam to class for LAA, and boy was Mdm Kavita angry. She mentioned a few dissapointments she had on this class, then turned to the Chairman (Tim), the Language Arts Rep (Me), the Favourite Student (Jai) and the Worst Student (Kirby) in one go, saying that she was dissapointed in our roles.
Those were just some of those moments when saying, "You're fired." isn't far from the subject at all.
After the dragged lesson, Tim, Niranjan and I were about to go to the class of 6.2 for the debate when I discovered that I had just lost my debate notes! Thankfully, Niranjan leant me a piece of fulscap, along with his own set of notes for me to copy with. We then went to the venue, permanantly registering in our heads that if the finals are post-poned one more time, we're gonna quit.To cut the story short by half an hour or more, we won! By 2 points, but that's besides the point! When it was all over, we told the joyful news to Mr. Tay, who in response started laughing here and there, and later treating each of us with a dollar each for a drink down the SAC. We all thanked him, and he thanked us in return for our efforts, also legalising the Class T-Shirt again.
The whole team went down to the SAC to celebrate our victory, whole team being;
1st Speaker (Me)
2nd Speaker (Tim)
3rd Speaker (Niran)
Stand-by Speaker (Kirby)
Supporter (JKit)
And since I'm already out of the competition, I can now break embargo! Woohoo, feasting the anti-embargo way rocks! Haha, yeah the good times! We then chatted around before leaving for our own homes. And now here I am typing into my blog what happened today: I may have lost the Canoeing Inter-Schools, but I've won the Debate Inter-Class. Whether that's a fair exchange, you be the judge.
I'm just happy Mom and Dad were there to see me race.
G'dnite, and God bless!
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