Chinese New Year 2012 Dragon Boat Races - Westpac

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, Westpac entered again in 2012’s City of Sydney’s Chinese New Year Festival Dragon Boat Races at Darling Harbour. The video shows some of the highlights throughout the day as the team progressed through to eventually win the major corporate final. The main race featured in this clip was their 2nd heat. The final race was much more highly contested with Macquarie Bank coming 2nd and Deloitte in 3rd place. Dragon boat racing is a cultural phenomenon of China, with a long history dating back to the Zhou Dynasty (770BC to 256BC). A symbol of good fortune and a sign of intense power, these mythical beasts appear to surge through the water, as 12-metre long boats decorated to feature the head and tail of the dragon battle it out in the waters of Cockle Bay. Each boat is large enough to seat 20 people with a sweep to steer and a drummer pounding loudly above the thrashing of the oars. Video edited by James Zhao Special thanks to Kevin Du and Nicholas