Final update:

Update Sunday 12:30pm:

Finished third in our morning race and headed to the platinum division "B" race this afternoon.

Update Sunday 8:00am:
​
We're ranked #9 and racing in one of the last women's semi final races this morning for placement in the platinum or diamond division finals.

Team photo.

Why don't we do this race every year?

The Dragonflies are escaping the heat in Portland this weekend just north of the border... At noon, the sun is shining and the temperature is currently just about 70 degrees here.

We raced about an hour ago and came in third in our heat against some tough competition. One of the better time of this morning, we race again at 3:32. All results are on Victoria Dragon Boat Festival's Twitter feed.

Update: BRONZE!!!

The Dragonflies are racing in Salem today! Follow results on Twitter @WorldBeatDragon.

Update 2:45pm:
​​Redemption!

(Thanks for the great photo, Laura Caldera Taylor.)

Update 10:00 am:
4th place in a tough first race on Sunday. We'll redeem ourselves in the consolation round at 1:06 pm.

Team photo 8:55 am:

Update 2:25 pm:
We're currently the 6th seed (out of 23 women's teams and will race in Subdivision 1 tomorrow, heat 43 at 9:24 am. Come cheer us on!

Update 1:05 pm:
​Second race, a very close second place. Everyone's times were faster including ours!

Update 10:20 am:
First race, first place! Women's times from this morning:

We race again in Heat 23 scheduled for 12:10 pm.

The Dragonflies have two races on Saturday and up to three on Sunday. Come down to the south end of Waterfront Park along the Willamette to cheer us on and/or stay tuned for race times and updates!

Update 4:00 pm:
​BRONZE!

Update 2:30 pm:
First place in the semi-finals with another 1:13! On to the finals in another hour.

Update 12:45 pm:
A close second place behind Amazon Dragons with a time of 1:13! Looks like we are going to be one of the top teams to beat...

Update 10:20 am:
First place in our first race with a time of 1:14 (250m)!

The first race of the 2016 season, the St. Martin's University Dragon Boat Festival in Olympia, is Saturday, April 30, 2016.

We've been on the water since early February and are race ready! The team currently has an active roster of nearly 30 paddlers (only 20 will paddle on race day) and this will be the very first dragon boat race for 4 of the paddlers racing in Olympia!

We'll try live-blogging the event and team's results here throughout the day.

The Flies will race on Sunday at 10:00. Women's A Division Semifinal, and again at 2:00 or 2:10 depending on placement in the morning race.

Saturday races: First place, Second place, and Fourth place. Great way to finish day one of the Portland Dragon Boat Race.

But what a fun weekend!

It was the fastest third place of the semi-finals, so we advanced to the Diamond division finals this afternoon.

The first place crew was a runaway winner, but it was a photo finish for second place in the Flies first race, with the Flies coming up just a hair short.

Well, we didn't win the women's small boat division 250 meter sprints, but combined with a mixed crew called Skittles with paddlers from all over (Long Beach, Montana, and Victoria) we brought home the fist place trophy (and gold medals to boot) in the Guts and Glory race at the end of the day for the in the mixed large boat division. Guts and Glory, you ask? 2000 meters total on a 250 meter race course. 7 turns. Props to Nancy our tiller for that one!

We had four new paddlers paddling in their very first race that weekend, our race times and confidence improved throughout the day, and spectators said our timing was right on.

The Paddle for Life Festival focused on fun and charity. The event is put on by a 501(c)(3) that is currently raising money for the disabled veterans water sports program at Vancouver Lake, a venue that boasts a fabulous crew facilty and a growing dragon boat program.