The Philippine Canoe-Kayak Dragon Boat national team showed its readiness in the coming Asian Games by ruling the Beijing International Dragon Boat Tournament recently.
Led by Hermie Macaranas, the Filipino paddlers raced to victory in the small boat 500-meter mixed team category with a clocking of two minutes and 13 seconds, nine ticks faster than host China, which checked in at second place.
Philippine Team B was a split-second slower than China and finished third.
They bested some of the top national teams in the world, including paddlers from Russia, Taiwan and Ukraine, on their way to the finals.
“We didn’t expect that both our teams will race in the finals and best the 11 other countries in the competition,” said Macaranas in Filipino.