Despite the expected rough seas ang gloomy weather spawned by tropical storm Urduja, adrenaline still rages today as the 2017 BakuNaga Dragon Boat Races unfold at the Boardwalk in the City of Naga, south Cebu.
Cebu is still under Storm Signal No. 1 as declared by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA) with Urduja already made landfall on neighboring islands of Eastern and Northern Samar.
However, with the approval of the Philippine Coast Guard- Cebu (PCG-Cebu) the much-anticipated dragonboat event is green and go today according to Randy Su of Dragon Boat Cebu Central.
Today’s event will feature two divisions – the 400-meter Open and 400-meter Mixed Categories with a total of nine teams confirmed to participate.
The Philippine Accessibility Disability Services, Inc. (Pads) Adaptive Dragon Boat Racing Team who holds the championship title in the first Naga Invitational Dragon Boat Race last October, is again installed the heavy race favorites along with Gruppo Habagat Dragon Boat Team which took runner-up honors in the inaugural race.
Other competing squads include Cebu’s Poseidon Dragon Boat Team, Accenture Paddlers, Cebu Fireblades, Ariya Dragon Boat Team and the visiting teams Yellow Fin Dragon Boat Team-Dumaguete, Biliran State University (BSU)-Tacloban, Bohol Paddlers-Tagbilaran and the Team Naga Dragons.
The event, according to Su, will also feature the city’s new tourist attraction which is the boardwalk. Naga City Mayor, Kristine Chiong is extending her full support to the event.