Created on: 08/12/2009 10:50 PM

Dragon Boat Preps

The Superior Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner. "It is pure adrenaline, what I tell everybody is it doesn't matter how mild mannered you are when you get on the starting line, your adrenaline is pumping, your heart's pumping and you want to go and win and give it everything you've got," said Jim Swanson. Jim Swanson and his Amsoil team, the Saber Dragons II, are out practicing for a year's worth of bragging rights at the office. "We've got another team from Amsoil. It's kind of a company rivalry back and forth with a little trash talking and just having a good time."

The sport that began over 2500 years ago in China requires near perfect coordination of all twenty paddlers on the boat. "Being in synch with paddling is the key to dragon boating, and that's what we're trying to do. Just get the timing down of each stroke, make sure everybody is paddling at the same time, ultimately be in tune for race day," said Swanson.

Tim Golden, the team's drummer, will keep his crew synchronized with his voice, and provide some extra motivation with his attire. "Since we're the Saber Dragons and we have swords in there I kind of figured a ninja warrior would be a good thing to do so it's a pretty unique outfit," said Golden.

The competition is on August 22nd. "I'm very competitive, I like to win," said Swanson. "At the end of the day it's all fun and games, we're in the same tent, eating the same food, sharing the same laughs so it should be good," added Golden.