The 2022 Long Beach Spring Race held at Marina Stadium, Long Beach, CA on Sunday, April 24th was our second and last race of the season. This 1-day event is a miniature version of the Big Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival, which is one of the largest dragon boat festivals held in California at the end of July. Here at the spring race, we were able to race against local California teams including adult, college, and high school teams in the Mixed 500 meters races and Mixed 200-meter sprints. 

With the Long Beach Spring Race being less than a month apart from the previously raced Arizona Dragon Boat Festival, we had very little time to improve our overall performance. UCSD entered two boats for both Mixed races under the names UCSD Gaslight and UCSD Gatekeep. For the Mixed 500M race, UCSD Gaslight was seeded in Division A while UCSD Gatekeep was seeded in Division B. Unfortunately, both boats were unable to advance to the finals in their respective division. However, both boats were able to advance all the way to the finals for the Mixed 200M sprints, and UCSD Gaslight placed 2nd during the Division A Finals, which is such an amazing accomplishment for our team! Although we were unable to race in the 500-meter finals, we were able to make a comeback and take silver home for the 200-meter sprints. 

Looking back at the season, our team has jumped through many hoops starting from recruitment to limited practices due to Covid surges to balancing out school and dragon boat overall. We have come so far as a team and performed so well at the two festivals we've participated in. We are very proud of our achievements this season and will continue to improve day by day until that medal hanging around our necks is gold. Can't wait to see the team grow stronger next season. See you next year!