By Shanice Harmon
On the 25th of September the annual ‘King of The Channel’ (KotC) race took place. At around 17:00, three schools gathered its students and faculty to compete in a dragon-boat race. Scalda, Hogeschool Zeeland (HZ), and University College Roosevelt (UCR) were the institutes participating in the event. It occurred in the canal that connects Vlissingen and Middelburg. Representing University College Roosevelt were a total of 18 RASA Vikings in their bright yellow shirts.
The first event for the ‘King of the Channel’ was the rowing-relay. In the relay boat UCR was represented by the students, Lukas Martini and Sander van Casteren, and a faculty member, Dr. Joseph Resovsky. Throughout the majority of the relay race, UCR representatives were in second place, behind Scalda. Although Lukas almost caught up to the opponent in the last minute, his leap was not quite enough.
Consequently, UCR students competed in the second event of The King of the Channel – the short distance event. For this event, each team required 1 head drummer and 16 students to canoe in one dragon-boat. The large group was forced to quickly learn the proper canoeing technique. The rowing strategy required students to lean forward and move the water with their boat-sticks in a vertical manner. During the short distance race it was noticeable that the RASA Vikings were quite focused; yet, their seriousness did not result in a win.
The final event was the long distance race. For this event, the RASA Vikings had to cover a distance that was almost three times as long as the previous one. The entire race you could hear UCR students shouting “Row, row, row” in a synchronized manner. Unfortunately, the aggressive repetition of these words was not enough for the RASA Vikings to redeem themselves either; they ended up in last place.
However, the unexpected disqualification of a team changed the outcome of the King of the Channel. The Scalda team included faculty members in the long and short distance event, which were races only open for students to compete. Despite Scalda finishing in first place, the school was eliminated from the rankings. Accordingly, this placed Hogeschool Zeeland in first place, and University College Roosevelt in second!
Nonetheless, it is necessary to mention that University College Roosevelt had a large disadvantage; faculty and staff were unable to attend the rowing training. Therefore, it was the first time for the majority of the student representatives to even set foot in a dragon-boat. So although the RASA Vikings were unable to defend their title, they still put up a tough fight. This loss did not demotivate the students; many stated that they are looking forward to next year’s King of the Channel race. In 2016 the RASA Vikings promise to practice a little more, so that they may be able to regain their KotC title. Additionally, it was undeniable that the RASA Vikings won the “spirit” award. Throughout the entire evening, UCR students dominated the event with constant cheering, excitement, and motivation.
Finally, the evening ended with a delicious barbeque. Live acoustic singers topped off the evening with a pleasant atmosphere. It was obvious that Scalda, HZ and UCR all appeared to have enjoyed the KotC from beginning to end.
Shanice Harmon, Class of 2017, is a Social Science major from Augsburg, Germany.
