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On March 5 the Dapto High Canoe Polo Team (Wayne McManus, Dalibor Vujic, Shane Jacka, Mitchell Jones, Peter Lennon, Nathan Bradley, Mr. Mackey and myself) competed in its second-ever event; the inaugural "Cheesecake Challenge", hosted by the Burley Griffin Canoe Club.  In typical ACT fashion, the weather was windy, cold and wet.  But that didn’t dampen our spirits and enthusiasm.

We played against Tumut, Rivers Canoe Club, the Dags, and the Waffles, coming in 4^th place in round one.  The team from Tumut had only two of their own players so Wayne McManus and Mitchell Jones shifted camp and played against DHS in our 1^st and 2^nd round games against Tumut.  Others of us assisted Tumut in their games against other teams.  Some of our team played as many as 10 games!

In round two we lifted our performance and shut out Tumut and the Waffles, meaning we were in the final against the undefeated Dags.  The Dags had a very strong and experienced team and defeated us 5 goals to 1, but we made them work for their win.  At the end of the game several of the Dags said that we had put up a great defense and played very well.  They were impressed with our skills and ability considering that we have been playing the sport for such a short time.

We’d like to thank our devoted cheer squad; Kate Valdivia, Kimberley Green, and Netascha Wills who really got into the spirit of the game.  They told us there were some breathless moments in our games.  Thanks girls!

We’d also like to pay special tribute to Mr. Craig Mackey who played in our team, and has coached us for three Sunday mornings at the Wollongong University pool.  Without his guidance and paddling experience we would not have done so well.

Our scores were as follows:

Once again, many thanks to Mrs. Mackey for the fantastic photos.

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