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    PADS Adaptive Dragon Boat crew finishes Florida meet with four golds

    Gold homecoming for PWD team from Cebu, the PADS Adaptive Dragon Boat
    Jul 26, 2022
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    PHOTO: Courtesy of JP Maunes

    IT’S GOING to be a gold homecoming for this para team.

    Cebu’s very own PADS Adaptive Dragon Boat team earned a four gold medal haul at the 13th International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) Club Crew Championships in Sarasota, Florida.

    It's the first IDBF club crew world championship for the paradragon category.

    The 24-person team won their first gold in the first competition day on July 19, besting home bets Para United Sarasota by 1:36 at the 2,000-meter race of the SB (small boat) PD (Paradragon)-2 Open category.

    Two more golds followed in quick succession on July 21, with the dragon boat crew — composed mostly of PWD athletes — ruling the 200-meter race of both the PD-1 and the PD-2 categories.

    (In the sport of para dragon boat, PD-1 and PD-2 refer to team composition. PD-1 means that every member of the team has an impairment, while PD-2 refers to a mixed crew of paddlers.)

    The final gold for the international meet — the team’s first since the pandemic began — came on July 23, with the PADS team ruling all three rounds of the 500-meter PD-2 small boat event. At the last round, the 10-man crew comfortably led Para Fusion and Para United by more than a boat’s length and a 2:19.015 finish.

    Emotional race for PADS Adaptive Dragon Boat

    It was an emotional race, said team manager JP Maunes to Spin.ph. The paradragons were in tears when they crossed the finish line.

    “No words can express how happy we are right now. Nagbunga talaga ang mga sakripisyo and pinaghirapan ng team. We have prepared for this world championship event for the last two years,” said Maunes.

    (Maunes is also owner of 2021 Spin.ph Sportsman Who Cares awardee Dubby’s Burgers, the Cebu burger business that employed PADS team members during the pandemic lockdowns).

    He added, “Mata ng karayom ang dinaanan natin just to be able to participate in the race. We thought di na namin masurpass ung mga distractions coming to the world championships pero magaling si Lord. Di nya tayo pinabayaan through the support of the Filipino community here.

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    "Hopefully the athletes will get the recognition they deserve once we get home this August 4 in the Philippines."

    Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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    PHOTO: Courtesy of JP Maunes
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