FCAS Dragon Boat Race back with more categories, prizes
Published on: Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) International Dragon Boat Race 2018 is back for the fifth consecutive year, with two additional categories and more cash prizes up for grabs. The event, in conjunction with the Duan Wu Festival to commemorate patriotic poet Qu Yuan who lived during the Warring States period of ancient China, is scheduled to be held at Likas Bay, here, on May 12-13.The two new categories are the Mayor Trophy (800 metres) for men and the FCAS Trophy (800 metres) for FCAS members.
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Both categories offer RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 prizes plus medals for the first, second and third placing, respectively, announced FCAS President Tan Sri Dr TC Goh and the event's organising chairlady Datuk Susan Wong in a media conference, here, Monday.The existing categories are the Sabah Head of State Trophy (800 metres) for international and top Malaysian men teams, Sabah Chief Minister's Trophy (800 metres) for Malaysian men's teams, Sabah FCAS Dragon Trophy (800 metres with minimum eight women) for international and Malaysian mixed teams.The FCAS Trophy (800 metres) for local Chinese men's teams, FCAS Trophy (800 metres with minimum eight women) for local Chinese mixed teams, Kinabalu Dragon Trophy (800 metres) for junior under-20 teams, Kinabalu Trophy (200 metres, 12 crew) for international and Malaysian men's team open and the Kinabalu Dragon Trophy (200 metres, 12 crew, minimum six women) for international and Malaysian mixed team open. Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin will be among guests of honour at the event which offers a total prize money of RM93,000.
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Last year saw a total of 102 teams from across Malaysia, China, Philippines, Hong Kong, Brunei, Singapore and Australia participating. This year, the organisers are expecting more participation from both local and international teams, especially with enquiries already pouring in.
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"There is not much difference but we will try our very best to make the event more attractive. The organising committee will come up with better ideas to make the event more creative to pull more crowd to the event," said Goh. Among activities lined up is the evening sunset welcome dinner at Likas Bay during which artists who performed well in the Chinese New Year Carnival will be invited to entertain guests and participants. Also scheduled to be held on the sidelines are the traditional ceremony of throwing dumplings into the sea and the dumpling cooking competition organised by the FCAS Women's Bureau to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan. Legend has it that when Qu Yuan learnt about the fall of his state of Chu he became despaired and threw himself into the river.When the people heard about the incident, they raced out in their boats to try to save him but in vain. When his body could not be found, they decided to drop sticky rice balls into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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