HILLVIEW College Hyperion completed the Pan American Club Crew Championship with four gold medals whilst Oceanus Dragon Boat Club bagged two gold and two silver medals on Sunday in Panama City, Panama.

Racing in the Open U-18 category, HVC won the 2000m, 1000m, 500m and 200m which was their last race. They stopped the clock in 56.04 seconds beating Dragon Den Warriors who clocked 58 seconds and placing third were Pond Scum in 59.96 secs.

Speaking after the races in an interview with the Trinidad and Tobago Dragon Boat Federation was captain of Hyperion Justin henry. He said, “It feels very rewarding to come here and do what we planned to do. We are very thankful to aquaholics for everything they have done to help us to reach here.” Henry is hoping that more junior programmes are started in TT to help develop the sport. He also sent a warning to the competitors for the junior regatta in a couple of weeks in TT.

The Tobago-based Oceanus won gold medals in the 500m and 2,000m mixed events and silver medals in the men`s 2000m and the 200m which was the closest race of the entire championship. Dragon Den Warriors won in 52.28 seconds which was .0001 seconds faster than Oceanus in 52.29 secs and Sky Dragon Boat Club placed third in 53.09 secs. TT`s Excellent Stores Titans were sixth in 55.85 secs. Titans were the third team from the twin-island country to participate in the championships; ended without any medals but gave a good account of themselves in the races.

Paddler for Oceanus Damian Leach said, “Top tier competition, it has been a gruelling one but very rewarding. We have learnt a lot and we have experienced that every time we raced, we learnt something new about ourselves at this level. Fellow TT teams performed well and just like us try to be a better version of ourselves.”

Leach concluded, “Once in a while you get an opportunity to come to an international regatta and go against the top teams. You can only learn from the best so you can become better. Keep on supporting us, we are going to give our best and let us try and grow this sport.”

President of Excellent Stores Titans Kwasi Lake said, “We travelled with a blend of a team... a few are inexperienced paddlers but we thought it necessary to bring them out here to have that international exposure.

“It is important that youngsters have that exposure so they can strive for something. Everyone always feels the pride when representing their country on any level. It can help the development of the sport of TT as more people see the ability of the sport.”