As always, the motto for this year’s dragon boat race in Jena against the beautiful backdrop of the Kernberge mountains was “Participation counts”. And so ORISA once again rounded up employees, friends and relatives to form a team and crew a boat on the Schleichersee. For an IT company with almost 70 employees, it’s not that easy to fill a dragon boat with 20 people who are willing and able to wield a paddle, excluding the drummer.
Experience has taught us that it takes some consistent training to paddle to the front of the race. Nevertheless, we have taken the opportunity to get our youngsters on board for the training sessions — in line with our family-friendly company policy. The children rarely get the opportunity for such an adventure. Our training sessions in the run-up to the race were correspondingly fun but without specific outcomes.
On the day of the race, September 9, the weather was extremely gracious and with temperatures of just under 30°, drinks and shade were the most important factors in providing our team with the best possible support. As usual, the two heats got off to a bumpy start, but we were able to improve bit by bit.So much so that we were even able to fight our way through one lap in the first final heat.We had already anticipated that we wouldn’t be among the leaders with a 23rd-place finisch. Nevertheless, we were able to leave more teams behind us than last year, which really motivated everyone. For us, taking part and spending the day together was an experience that we will certainly want to repeat next year.And who knows, maybe we’ll aim to achieve a slightly better ranking — although … 😊
