Remembering our dragonboat rowers

On Wed night I stayed up late (till 2plus) running through the comments left on the website set up by the Sec 2 teacher of the late Chee Wei Cheng, who lost his life at Cambodia, along with four of his team-mates. I appreciate the effort by his teacher for creating this blog for friends and strangers to pen their thoughts remembering their friends.

There were also sites dedicated to the other rowers. Who stroke me was the number of comments (96 in all as of last night, it could be more now), for a person who was known to be a simple, friendly and helpful lad. All five of them were fine individuals in their respective fields and I am pretty sure they would excel even further in life if the incident did not occur.

Few pple would have known that I had aspired to row during my younger days. That was during my first year at NTU. Having grown from a lazy bum to someone who did two marathons and got gold award for IPPT in NS, I saw it as a challenge for me to stretch myself to the next higher level. Now and then at the SRC, I would see the tanned and well-built rowers (in their distinctive vest with the "long"chinese character) training and set a target to join the team. Moreover i needed the points to stay in hostel, so it would be a perfect match, at the same time I could improve my fitness.

Unfortunately, this only lasted for couple of weeks. I joined them for training at campus. That began with a run in the campus, stopping every 200 metres to do static exercise, such as push-ups and sit-ups... and this repeated for 10 over times. Thereafter it was chin-ups and weights. It was simply too much for me. There were encouragement from seniors, and i persisted till i rowed at Kallang River one fine Saturday afternoon for the first time. At the end of the session, i realised this sport demanded more than what i could offer. I quited.

The episode reinforced my respect for the rowers, especially competitive ones. Each individual has to have the passion for the sport; determination to succeed; conviction in believing oneself; and the stamina to sustain. As a teamsport, discipline and cooperation are paramount and one could not give up even if he is tired, because the load would be passed and shared by others. And they still have to juggle with their works/studies.

Those who have gone through this regime posses the kind of qualities which makes one a better man. And it was therefore no surprise to see that all five rowers were described by friends and relatives as outstanding individuals. Ordinary they may be, they had touched the life of others who would miss them. May they rest in peace.