2010 Year in Review

Tempe - March 27 & 28

its my food. mine!

Home from the desert, our first race of the season and the first race as Captain, I couldn't be more proud. With the premiere of teams Gilda & Yolanda, team LARD represented strongly. Tempe was just the beginning of our 2010 season and we can only get stronger from here. It’s truly exciting to think about the journey that is about to unfold.

I’d like to take this time to thank each and every teammate (on and off the water) for their support, dedication and hard work in creating this team LARD.

lard men

I would like to send out a special thank you to our coaches, Scott, Leon, Otto, Jason and Megan for their selfless dedication and hard work; to my co-captain Cathleen for her assistance and pulling double duties as paddler and caller; to our newest paddlers, Sandy, Alicia, Billy and Delwin for jumping on board our first race of the season; to our guest paddlers Monica, Rowena and the other teams that came to assist in the time of battle; to the Wang sisters for their wonderful creative signs to encourage and cheer on the Pinks; to our race manager Vi for her support and keeping us on track; to Will for pumping us up and his continued spirit; to Mike for organizing the lunches and team dinner; to Rich & Nick for taking care of the gear and me; to Karen for her guiding the newbie captains; to everyone who chipped in to make our Tempe camp organized, shaded and shock free; and last, but not least, to Diane our team mom for housing us and keeping us all safe and secure. Forgive me if I’ve forgotten anyone, as everyone deserves special thanks.

Who would have thought five years ago, when I first dipped the heavy splintered yellow paddle into the water for the first time, it would lead to this? I am truly honored to be your Captain.

Best regards,

Lori

Hope everyone made it home safely, (well) rested and feel the soreness ;). Well, Lori has taken the words right out of my mouth. As a newly captain, I am happy with what we were able to accomplish for the first race of the season. I want to thank you all of you for all the hard work and effort you put in at Tempe. It paid off in the water and has shown that we are in a good start for this season (partial bday wish came true...250m race =); men even though it was second place, I see you as 1st & ladies represented we did GREAT job out there).

Recognitions to the coaches for all the work to get us ready for Tempe and as the season continues...Megan for doing a good job with the PINKS. My side kick Lori for the guidance and support; Jason for doing a great job steering in almost all of our races; directors who helped with the lunches, dinner, and signs for the PINKS (including Karen and Crystal); Will for steering the PINKS's boat and knowing how to get those ladies pumped up; Diane who knows knows her stuff and of course being a great team mom; to all of the newbies and guest paddlers for being a part of the LARD family; and lastly all of our veterans who showed what it takes to bring out LARD Yoland and Gilda.

It is an honor to be part of the leadership on this team and I am excited for this season as we get ready for other upcoming races.

-Cathleen Kim

Tempe 250m

Going into this race, TeamLARD’s primary goal was to get race experience for our newer paddlers. What a great job they all did!

Dividing the teams equally, we put together two fun mixed teams. Unfortunately, we were a bit undermanned paddling 18 paddlers in each boat’s A Division Semi Final. Neither mixed team advanced to the Finals but we were able to bring along our newer paddlers.

TeamLARD’s Women finished a strong 2nd in their first heat. Somehow, they did not advance to the women finals.

The LARD Men recorded the fastest 500m time of the weekend in the Saturday prelims and finished 2nd in the Men’s Final being eked by the San Diego Men.

TeamLARD was the only team that finished under 1 minute in the 250 meter race earning a first place finish. Here’s some video of that race.

-Scott

whaaa? gatorade sludge.

Thanks all for a fantastic weekend. While I am TIRED (given the immediate return to a work deadline and all the interesting highlights of the trip home), I wanted to write a quick summary and note of thanks. As discussed, we were able to premier the new LARD team designations of Yolanda and Gilda, and true to the origins of the names as training tools, we took the opportunity to try new configurations, expose our newest paddlers to our most veteran and really prepare the team for the season ahead.

Based on Tempe, the prospects of this season couldn't be any brighter. BOTH of our teams qualified in the A division. We couldn't be any prouder of our women in the way they finished their 'final' race, the men earned a hard-fought second in their final, we posted the fastest time in (and earned awards for) 2 of the tournament's 3 distances, 250M and 500M! What you all demonstrated was the LARD attitude of competition, support, and commitment to improvement, both in self and for team.

Our Pinks shined, and honestly, I haven't seen them more determined, coordinated and STRONG! They support they gave us, and the support we shared helped us both perform to our utmost. We look forward to and are proud of our continued association with the Pinks. BTW, the coaches will be hosting a clinic for them this Saturday.

Thanks may be repeated, but acknowledgement is only a small part of the credit you all deserve for this weekend's success. As paddlers, you were strong, as friends and teammates, amazing. Thanks to those who organized - so many things, from the race itself to hotel to travel to equipment to lunch to a wonderful dinner. Thanks to the coaching staff and team leaders formal and informal, for your help in guiding this team.

While our participation may be somewhat limited [for the short term, promise], Wynne and I are so thrilled to get a glimpse of what this season may bring. I hope you are as excited as I am about this year. VANCOUVER'S NEXT!!!

Leon

What a great start to the race season. Tempe is a wonderful first race because it is so close and there are so many Long Beach teams there that show us so much love. When I first started with the team, our major race was a breast cancer race so there wasn't anyone from Long Beach. The event was wonderful, but no one in the crowd knew us. For those of you that weren't able to make it, you would not believe how much support and love from the other SCDBC teams. The signs and posters that LARD made for us were so beautiful, and touching. I am not sure whether I had more tears from the signs or the flower ceremony.....but I digress.

Sunday was more of the same except we had the Cancer final 500, the masters 500, a rousing 1,000, and a really fun 250. Since the 1,000 meter is such a long race, we were going to stop in front of the fans and give a paddle salute on my call. We were doing so well and really in the groove, that I yelled NO SALUTE. We gave our salute later, but you should all be proud of what you did in the 1,000. I know that I am.

PHEW, glad to be home and I am very thank full to Linda for coordinating, TK for coaching, Mary Beth for warm ups, Kathy for cool downs, Marta and Carol for schlepping all of our stuff, Char for keeping us in line and for selling shirts and pareo's, Nada and Lynn for the Saturday Dinner, and to everyone that helped with goody bags and tent set up and tear down. It really does take a Pink Village to pull this stuff off.

Thank's to LARD for their amazing support, Jason and Will for steering, Megan, Otto, and Kathleen for calling and Leon....for being Leon.

-Sharon

Baby Long Beach - May 2

Terminator Dennis

The day before I left for Cabo and Ensenada, LARD participated in the Local Spring Long Beach Races, also affectionately known as Baby Long Beach.

Most, if not all, of the local teams raced as well as a few out of town teams. The races consisted of 2 distances – 500m and 200m.

Traditionally, LARD uses this race as an introduction to our brand spankin’ new paddlers. This year was no exception.

Red Squad on the water

I was very, very impressed with our new paddlers. They did an absolutely amazing job. I can’t wait to witness their further development as the season progresses.

People define success differently. Some think they are successful if they cross the finish line first. I am not one of those people.

Although, it is easy to define success by winning a race, event, or game, for me, true success comes from what you learn during the process.

At the Spring Long Beach Races, affectionately known as "Baby Long Beach", I learned that our team is not defined by the trophies and medals we win. Why do I say this? Well, quite simply, our placing didn't matter. It didn't matter if we finished first in a race or last, the team focused on what we did well in the race and what we didn't do so well. We learned from each race and each stroke we made. That is the definition of success.

We learned that this year's journey has just begun and we have a lot of work to do along that journey. I know you are up to the task and I know, with your hard work, we will succeed - the same way we succeed every year.

That being said, we can only succeed together if we train together consistently.

did we win?

Veteran paddlers, you should all be very proud of our new paddlers and their Baby Long Beach performance. As I told a few of the newbies over the weekend, they looked so good racing that many on the beach likely didn't even realize that our new paddlers had paddled only a handful of times. Let's all congratulate and welcome our new paddlers, they are all phenomenal assets that will enrich LARD for seasons to come.

Let's take this momentum and build on it. Next stop, Vancouver.

I hope to see you all consistently at practice. Together we will get better.

Respectfully,

- Scott

Megan Y coaching and calling for our Pink Dragons

The Los Angeles Pink Dragons came out roaring for Baby Long Beach. Fresh from a paddling clinic with LARD and with the addition of our own Meghan Y. to their coaching staff, the Pinks did us proud.

Three cheers for our newest members to the team and who all did a fantastic job. Some have paddled before, some have even paddled at Long Beach before, but for all this was their first event as LARD at Baby Long Beach. Welcome welcome!

Our amazing new paddlers

Back row: John Chris Angel Ginger Suzanne Mona Mauricio Sandy Delwin

Front: Alicia Daniel Ken Billy Jorge

Row 4 Lori, Mike, Mark, Dennis, Andy, Will L, Ken W, Aaron, Kenny K, Cheryl, Chris, Angel, Suzanne, Mona, Ken L, James, Willie P, Mauricio, Delwin, Sandy, Alison, Diane
Row 3 Scott, Greg, Johnny, Bill T, Brent, ??, Jeff C
Row 2 Otto, Leon, Chuck, Karen W, Cathleen, Billy L, Jesse
Row 1 Susan, Lilly, Alicia, Daniel, Aileen, Kat, Ginger, Crystal W, Megan Y, Evelyn L, Jorge, Phil

Vanouver Coming June 19 and 20, 2010!

Coming Soon!

Long Beach Coming July 31 Aug 1st 2010

Coming Soon!

San Francisco Coming Sept 25 26 2010

Coming Soon!

Banquet: 13th Year

Coming Soon!