After steering the Dubai Diggers to victory in the open category at the Shangri-La Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships in Hong Kong, team captain Daniel “Woody” Wood spoke with TGFM to reflect on a win years in the making — and on the Filipino paddlers at the heart of his crew.
For Wood and the Diggers, the return to Stanley Main Beach carried meaning beyond the result. The June 19 championship, held over a 270-metre course and drawing more than 180 teams, took the club back to where it began. “Stanley is a very special place for the Diggers as it is where our small club was established by our founder Nick Hando before relocating to Dubai,” Wood shared with TGFM. “We like to return every 3-4 years as it is such a wonderful and unique event with the long boats, wooden paddles and hundreds of teams.”
The campaign also came after a frustrating gap in competition. “Our local race season was cancelled due to the war so we were very eager to get on the water and race again,” Wood said. He described a preparation built on consistency in the weeks before Hong Kong: “Our preparation involved 3 session a week on the water led by Coach Izzy and 2-3 sessions of strength and conditioning led by Coach Milos.”
That coaching is led by Ismail “Izzy” Smit of South Africa and Milos Pesic of Serbia, part of a club whose international makeup Wood sees as its greatest strength. “Our diversity is what makes us great,” he said. “We are a small club with about 25 active paddlers but within that number we have over 20 different nationalities. We all come from different countries, cultures and backgrounds but when we get in the boat together, we are one team and have a common goal to do whatever it takes to make the boat go faster.”
Asked whether he had sensed the win coming, Wood pointed to the standards the squad sets in training rather than any single moment on the water. “We hold each other to high standards in our preparation. Everyone that made the crew for Stanley earned their seat,” he said. “You never know how a race will go or what competition will show up but we put in the work so were always confident of winning.”
The Filipino presence in the boat is no small detail. Among the winning crew were Mark Anthony Garcia, a freelance personal trainer; Joselino “Joel” De Jesus, an inventory controller in the automotive sector; and Charmaine Esteban, a fashion buyer who serves as the team’s sweep, or steerer. Wood said Filipinos form the largest national group in the club. “We actually have more Filipinos in our team than any other nationality,” he said. “Our sweep Charmaine is very modest but is probably one of the best sweeps in the world. And Mark and Joel are elite paddlers who are very dedicated to the sport and our team. We tend to train early in the morning so as not to interfere too much with family and work.”
With the title secured, the Diggers now turn to rest before their next campaign. “We are going to take a well deserved break over the summer months in Dubai and re-start training in September,” Wood said. “Some of the team can’t stay off the water so will head out on the OCs. We like to do an international race every year and currently have our eyes on Boracay and potentially back to Hong Kong for the World Nations dragon boat championships in 2027 (where we race as the UAE national team).”
It is a fitting horizon for a club that began in Hong Kong, made its home in Dubai, and now counts a Filipino core among the paddlers driving its boat forward.
