Jamaica Sets Dragon Boat National Best in Bahamas Mixed 200m Final

Jamaica's mixed dragon boat squad rewrote its national best with a clocking of 1:01.82 minutes on Sunday, placing fourth in the 200m final at the fifth Annual Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival, held at Goodman's Bay in Nassau, The Bahamas.

The time fell 1.1 seconds outside the bronze-medal mark Jamaica earned a year ago, while the gap of 2.46 seconds to gold-medallists Royal Bahamas Defence Force Water Defenders was a notable measure for skipper Jason McKay, who had earlier paddled a swift opening heat of 1:02.43.

"This year's mixed team's winning time, 59.36, would have been in contention for a medal at last year's major open final, signalling how tough the mixed division, which had no major or minor division this year, has become," McKay said.

The Water Defenders' winning 59.36 narrowly held off Chinook Mojos in 1:00.08, who were runners-up last year, with Sandragon third in 1:00.72 and Jamaica fourth in 1:01.82, the four crews divided at the line by the carved dragon heads on the bows of their boats.

Jamaica earned the final berth after taking out the first and second heats on Saturday's opening day in 1:02.43 and 1:04.72, then adding a third heat win of 1:04.42 during Sunday morning's session.

McKay observed that the 1:02.43 opener already eclipsed every time the team produced during their 2025 bronze-medal run.

"Improving your time is what counts in this sport," McKay said. "We might not have medalled, but it shows we are improving. It is our second year in the sport, it will take time to build, but we must continually reduce the times until we are keeping pace with world standards."

The captain stressed that only sub-minute clockings at Jamaica's own Dragon Boat Festival, set for June 12-13, will be enough to send mixed or open crews to the International Dragon Boat Federation's Club Crew World Championships in Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) from August 29 to September 6.

Denise Romero-Williams led Jamaica's mixed crew on the water, with Danielle Russell, Neil Yap Sam, Cassandra Russell, Rushaine Tyrell, Richard Stone, Chue-Ping Wong Russell, Ashane Gordon-Morrison, Kashane McFarlene, Zain Chong, Nicholai Reid and Clayton Russell Jr. completing the line-up.

The regatta drew entries from the United States, Canada and The Bahamas, with Jamaica winding up fourth overall.

"Last year, we won bronze in the major final of the mixed 200m. This year we tried, but with a smaller male squad split between the 500m open. The big, home-based teams concentrate on the open events, whereas our team is stretched over two events," McKay said.

"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 [which are] sponsored by resorts located on the beach," he said.