Jamaica lose bronze by a dragon's head

Jamaica’s mixed 200-metre team yesterday went within 1.1 seconds of retaining their bronze medal but agonisingly lost in the day’s closest and most thrilling final at the 5th Annual Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival at Goodman's Bay in Nassau, Bahamas.

Following first- and second-round times of 1:02.43 and 1:04.72, winning both heats on Saturday’s opening day, Jamaica kept their streak intact, returning in yesterday’s morning session to post 1:04.42, clear winners of their round-three heat.

Squaring off in the final, dragon heads, not boat lengths, separated winners Royal Bahamas Defence Force Water Defenders (59.36), Chinook Mojos (1:00.08), Sandragon (1:00.72), last year’s runners-up, and Jamaica (1:01.82), team-bests posted by the four finalists over two days, bettering open-teams times.

Noting that Jamaica were denied a bronze by 1.1 seconds in finishing 2.46 seconds behind the winners, manager Jason McKay pointed out that the team was stretched thin in a tougher division this year as opposed to their 2025 debut when the mIxed teams competed in Major and Minor finals.

“Last year, we won bronze in the Major Final of the Mixed 200 metres. This year we tried, but with a smaller male squad split between the 500-metre open. The big home-based teams concentrate on the open events, whereas our team is stretched over two events,” McKay explained.

“It takes a lot of money to outfit a team and to get here, competing against teams from North America that literally have lakes for their backyards and the bigger Bahamian teams sponsored by resorts located on the beach,” McKay added, expressing hopes that by the time Jamaica hosts its second  Dragon Boat Festival, June 13-14, at Grand Hotel Excelsior, Port Royal, the team will break the one-minute barrier with eyes on the International Dragon Boat Federation’s Club Crew World Championships in Chinese Taipei, August 29-September 6.