Making a splash

The Cook Hong Kong Dragon Boat team

The sound of beating drums echoed across the sea air. Thousands of spectators gathered along the shores of Stanley Beach to watch the annually anticipated Hong Kong Stanley International Dragon Boat Championship.

Nearly 200 teams from all over the world stretched and prepared for the race. Each team, sporting their own uniform designs, prepped their colorful dragon boats and psyched themselves up for the 270 meters of paddling ahead of them.

Cook Hong Kong’s Red Dragon team circled up before the race; after months of hard work and difficult training, competition day had finally arrived. On June 7, Cook’s 18 paddlers and drummer put their hands together and celebrated how far they had already come.

The Red Dragon team

“Our team is made up of people having varying physical capabilities,” said Kitty Tse, the APAC Business Insight manager, and also the drummer for the team.

“Some of us are sports enthusiasts, while some are first-time dragon boat paddlers,” she continued. “We left out no one, and we all trained persistently throughout the course of two months. I’m very proud that we made it through trainings and race day, together as a team.”

“Dragon boating is the ultimate team sport,” said Vicky Yick, a Regulatory Affairs specialist. “You can’t do it with two or three friends; you need to have a big group of paddlers, all paddling in unison, to drive the boat forward. The sense of togetherness is what it’s all about, and I’m really happy to be part of a great team.”

From the first day of training, the team experienced some confusion about how to collectively move the boat forward, and everyone went home a little tired and sore. But as the training sessions continued, the team’s skills began to improve. They quickly picked up a better stroke technique and debuted in the race as strong competitors.

Check out the video below to see the Cook Hong Kong Red Dragon team in action!

After the race

“Although we did not win any medals, we consider ourselves winners because we did better as a team than we did two years ago,” said Christina Lam, the APAC Ethics & Compliance director, and also the team manager of this year’s dragon boat team.

“We showed an amazing team spirit and finished the race with great dedication and enjoyment,” Christina said. “Being the team manager for a sport that I love was extremely rewarding. I appreciated the team’s trust in my abilities and tolerance of my sometimes overly enthusiastic spirit on the boat.”

“To me, as a relative newcomer to Cook, this was a great way to connect with coworkers, establish a rapport outside of work, and understand each other better,” said Vicky Yick, “We trained during workday evenings and sometimes ate together after trainings.”

Overall, after months of spending time together and training hard with one another, the Cook Hong Kong Red Dragon team members developed close-knit bonds with each other. Below are some photos of this dedicated group of friends and coworkers from the dragon boat race day and festival.

Training to win

The Red Dragon team’s hard work and persistence paid off later that summer. On June 23, at the 18th Sun Life Hong Kong Dragon Boat Short Course Race, 10 of Cook’s paddlers and drummer rowed their way to victory. With a newfound sense of team spirit, the team took home medals in the bronze category.

“Working on our team spirit was difficult, yet rewarding,” said Hero Ng, a Supply Chain manager.

“Our pride and coordination this year was the strongest that it has ever been, and I believe this team spirit will be equally important to our workplace,” Hero said.

In their last race, on September 1, the team won their second medal in the bronze category at the highly competitive 2019 Kwun Tong Dragon Boat Race.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” said Mandy Kung, Marketing Materials Processing manager, “And I will definitely sign up again next year!”

Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Duan Wu Jie in Chinese. While there are many stories surrounding how the festival and the race came about, one of the most popular versions derives from the story of Qu Yuan.

Some say that the festival was founded in commemoration of Qu Yuan, a patriot, politician, and poet from ancient Chinese history. It is said that after learning that his home state had been defeated in war, Qu Yuan despairingly threw himself into the Mi Luo river. Fishermen who heard the news desperately rowed their boat to the river to find Qu Yuan. Failing in their attempt, they threw lumps of rice into the river to ward away and feed the fish.

The fishermen’s act of boat rowing gradually developed into the tradition of dragon boat racing, and the lumps of rice became what is now known as zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings. From this legend, the festival has come to symbolize the importance of loyalty, integrity, and commitment in the Chinese community.

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Written by KarSee Lock, a Written Content specialist in APAC Marketing at Cook Hong Kong.
Photo credits to Eric Siu, the DCM Business Development manager.

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