Race of the Dragon (Boats)

Okay now, You see the words: Dragon Boat Racing... and you're probably thinking: "what's that?" Right? Well let me explain: 

One of the sports here is called Dragon Boat. It is hugely popular in Asia as well as other countries, such as Canada...even the US has a few teams of their own.
Dragon Boat teams are sort of like Crew teams... meaning that they also race in long boats... but otherwise, they are very different. The rowers sit side-by-side, sometimes 8 or 10, sometimes 20! They paddle the boat in a similar style as what you might use in a canoe.
So my brother has been practicing with the American Team for a while now, and just had his first race yesterday! There were over  20 teams!... The Irish, Canadians, Germans, Filipinos, Australians... and the multiple other groups  that are Singapore colleges or alumni groups or what have you... just to name a few. Around here, anyone and everyone can have a team. Most schools have one, most associations and business have one... so on and so forth, and neither age, race nor gender can hold you back from competing!

This is the beginning of the race. They started spread out, but had to come together quickly to make a tight left turn.

The American Dragons of Singapore.

Jeremy is the youngest on his team, being only 18... they joke that when he joined, he brought the average age of the group down by 4 years. The oldest on the team is around 60. 
This race that just took place was a 10k. For those of you who aren't aware of the conversion, that is just over 6 miles! It took just over 50 minutes to complete the course... and they were rowing during the heat of the day! The American team came in 10th or 11th over all... which was in the top half, so that is good. The SIM alumni group took the gold and the Australians the silver.

Now usually, the traditional boats associated with Dragon Boat are a little different from these. They have Dragons on the front of the boat, and there is also a drummer who marks the pace. They don't just strike the drum one beat per stroke, however. They pound beats and somehow the rowers follow them... I guess with practice lol Also, in case you saw the person standing up in the back, but don't know why he's there.. they are steering. 

Below I am posting (or attempting to post) a short video of the end of the race so you can see it yourself. If you can actually see the video, I guess you'll know I've succeeded! :)