Landas Sarawak team receiving the main title Sabah Head of State Trophy from Phoong (back, sixth left).

KOTA KINABALU (May 17): Landas Sarawak clinched the Sabah Head of State Trophy at the 11th Sabah FCAS International Dragon Boat Race, which concluded at Tanjung Lipat here today.

The victory marked the second consecutive year a Sarawakian team has won the tournament’s main title, following N82 Bukit Sari Lawas’ triumph last year.

Landas Sarawak faced strong competition in the eight-team 800m final featuring top Malaysian and international teams.

The race went down to the wire, with Landas Sarawak edging past their closest rivals near the finish line to secure victory in a time of 3:43.41s.

Lautan Biru DBT Tuaran Sabah finished second in 3:44.91s, while Asuk Hill DBT came in third with a time of 3:45.09s.

Another highlight of the event was the Sabah Chief Minister Trophy, contested by leading Malaysian teams in an 800m race.

Dragon Boat Labuk Beluran emerged champions after clocking 3:35.59s, ahead of Gemilang Indah Gayang Team (3:37.97s) and Pasukan Perahu Naga Lampung Layan (3:39.28s).

In the Sabah FCAS Dragon Trophy category, River Raptors ITCC Penampang clocked 4:02.03s to dethrone defending champions Royal Malaysia Police Paddlers (RMP Paddlers) in the 800m mixed team race, which required a minimum of eight women paddlers per team.

RMP Paddlers finished second in 4:03.46s, while Team Maju Sulaman took third place in 4:08.77s.

It was River Raptors ITCC Penampang’s second title of the competition, having earlier won the Kinabalu Dragon Trophy Mix Team Open 200m race.

A total of 10 categories were contested during the three-day event, with overall prize money amounting to RM95,000.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Joachim Gunsalam, representing the Chief Minister, and newly appointed Senator Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe presented prizes to the winning teams.

Also present were Mayor Datuk Seri Dr Sabin Samitah, Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) president Tan Sri TC Goh, and deputy president-cum-organising chairperson Datuk Susan Wong.

Organised by FCAS, the event attracted 126 teams from various countries.