The race, drawing teams from eight countries, is the most prestigious world event of the year for the 2,000-year-old Chinese sport of dragon boat racing.
Racing in a downpour that started at dawn and never let up, a team from Toronto beat the farmers from Shun De in southern China by a dragon's whisker. The Canadians finished the 640-meter course with a time of 2 minutes and 44.4 seconds, with the Chinese coming in six-tenths of a second behind them.
Indonesia was only a fraction off the leaders, with the Philadelphia team coming in about a boat length behind the top three finishers. The Philadelphia team had a time of 2 minutes and 56.4 seconds.
Although not the favorites, the Philadelphia paddlers entered the race with a strong record. In last year's world competition in China, they stunned competitors by finishing second to the Chinese.
Bob McNamara, the team's coach, said the crew paddled as strongly as it could, given the circumstances.
``We definitely paddled to our potential,'' McNamara said. He said seven of the 20 paddlers in the boat were new to the sport, an obvious weakness against more experienced Asian teams.
``We're looking at this as a rebuilding year,'' he said. ``We can come back.''
Yesterday's international competition was the high point of a week-long celebration of the sport. Hong Kong takes its dragon boat racing very seriously. Last Thursday was a citywide holiday as local teams competed in races held in 10 different locations throughout the territory. The two-day international races during the weekend will be followed this week by an Asian competition.
In dragon boat racing, 20 paddlers sit two-by-two in a teakwood boat with one steersman and a rhythm-keeping drummer. These are not sleek, fast boats. They are plodding freighters. In a demonstration race yesterday, a dragon boat lost to a kayaker and single sculler.
