80 » OpenRoad Driver
That’s exciting! You’ve represented
Canada in many international
dragon boat tournaments. Which
race was the most memorable?
I would say the first official dragon boat
championship, the 1st World Dragon Boat
Championship in Yueyang, China in 1995.
Definitely something to be remembered.
This is said to be the birthplace of dragon
boat. There were about 250,000 spectators
at the event, including many Chinese
government officials, and we did very well.
Some tough competition, for sure!
How many places have you
competed in? You must have
traveled the world by now!
I’ve been racing for quite a long time now,
so I’ve been to various places: Australia, the
Czech Republic, Italy, Tahiti and Hawaii.
Many times in Hong Kong because the
official races used to be there; England, and
a few other places.
You obviously keep yourself in good
shape. Describe your normal workout
routine.
I try to wake up early to go to the gym, and
get some boat time in whenever I can. I
eat well – I love food and chocolate. I don’t
have a very strict diet and I eat what I think
is right for me. I do push-pull workouts:
three sets push, three sets pull. That way it’s
more endurance and cardio. If I spend a lot
of time on the water, then I ease off on the
workouts because rest is important, too.
Some of those dragon boat team
names are memorable and hilarious.
What are some of the best names
you’ve seen?
Well, there are many of them. There are
names like Shaggin’ Dragon or DHL
(Deeper, Harder, Longer). It’s great. People
have lots of fun with their team names.
Is Vancouver the hotbed of Canadian
dragon boating?
I think it used to be. Now, you’ve got eastern
Canada where there are a lot of strong,
serious teams that compete at a very high
level, especially in cities like Montreal or
Toronto. Vancouver is still very well known
and False Creek teams are known. The Rio
Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival we have
here is still one of the largest races outside
of Asia.
Do you ever think the sport will
become an Olympic sport?
Yes, I think eventually. When you are racing
at a competitive level, a large number of the
teams are actually national teams, and some
of the paddlers are Olympians, too. There
were talks about it when the Olympics were
held in China, but I don’t know how far it
went.
You’ve coached and mentored the
OpenRoad dragon boat team in
previous years. What was that like,
coaching and yelling at your own
colleagues?
(laughs) It was great! I liked the team
dynamics and team spirit. It was good to be
able to motivate people and push them to a
level they’ve never been before. It was also a
great networking opportunity.
What advice would you give to
aspiring athletes? What trait would
you say is most important?
You have to have the drive to push and go
further. Everything starts from the drive,
and if you don’t have that, it’s very hard to
get anything done. You also have to train
smart, because no matter how hard you
train, there’s always someone out there who
trains harder than you. It’s different from
business, where it’s all about results. In the
world of sports, yes, results are also very
important, but it’s also about the process.
The process of getting there, the process of
doing things right, putting in one stroke at
a time, passing through one buoy at a time.
Don’t set too many long-term goals. Maybe
one long-term goal, and many short-term
goals that are achievable. Otherwise, you
will get overwhelmed.
What does a typical day for you at
OpenRoad look like?
It’s a lot of problem solving and managing
priorities. I have to be the guy who oversees
all of OpenRoad’s development projects
and always be one step ahead of everybody
else in order to see everything. A typical
day would start with an action list that I set
for myself the day before, and making sure
items on that list are resolved. Site visits,
filtering through data, and making sure all
angles and aspects of a project are covered.
I also have to make sure the team – the
the consultants, architects, contractors,
stakeholders, OpenRoad – are all cohesive
and that there’s team spirit. It’s always gogo-go, and I try to keep people motivated.
(So in a way, you’re like the coach!) Yeah, I
guess you can say that.
Can you give our readers a little
sneak peek of what’s to come for
OpenRoad in 2014?
We break ground for the new Audi and
Volkswagen stores in February 2014.
Porsche will be completed late summer this
year. Jaguar and Land Rover will start to
take shape shortly. We’re working through
the conceptual drawings for the new Toyota
store right now, so we’ll start on that project
shortly as well.