The ultimate dragon tug is a dragon boat regatta with a super-charged adrenalin twist. Two teams, head to head in 12-crew boats. At push-off, the sprint begins. Where both teams are evenly matched, both reach within approximately 4 meter of the Victory Flag, restrained by the tough cable that links both boats. The ultimate tug of war begins. The winner tugs ahead and claims the Victory Flag.
Fronterra is the organizer of the Ultimate Dragon Tug. Fronterra is a young, internationally orientated sports-design company in the business of transforming ordinary sports into extraordinary race experiences. Their trademark lies in creating new sports through existing sports disciplines.
As the event organizer, Fronterra has many responsibilities. They are in charge of conceptualization of sports event / tournament, planning, project management and event execution, technical and logistics solutions and location sourcing and coordination.
The stakeholders of the event include the participants from the various dragon boat teams, the event organizer and sponsors. The sponsors include Foster’s beer, Check apparel, Red Bull, New Balance, Men’s Health and many more.The event is also supported by Singapore Sports Council, Singapore Pools, Public Utilities Board and Singapore Totalisator Board. It is sanctioned by the Singapore Dragon Boat Association.
The target group would be corporate companies with dragon boat teams such as Keppel, UOB bank, and even government body HDB. There are also many private clubs participating in the event, mostly foreign or expatriate participants. There were representations from American Dragon Boat of Singapore, German Dragons Singapore, Robert Palmer Canadian Dragons, British Chamber of Commerce.
The organizer Fronterra did not really do much advertising for this event, supposedly because it is targeted at corporate companies and not really the general public, hence there does not need to be so much publicity, as the corporate companies with dragon boat teams will be aware of such a race.They had a website which described the details of the race, with an online registration form on the website. However, other than the website, the race was not widely advertised so not many outsiders knew about it. Thus, the turnout on the race day itself mostly comprised of the participants and their supporters, and people who just so happened to be at that venue. The website for the dragon tug was relatively well done, with all the details of the race day put up for anyone to view. Registration was also possible online with an online form put up. Sponsors, updates, and contact information were also clearly put up on the website in case anyone had any queries to make about the event.
The event was relatively well organized and executed. All the participating teams had their own space along the river to prepare themselves and ready their equipment. There was a main tent with an announcer who would inform everyone via the PA system the outcomes of current races and details of the next race.The sound system was very loud and clear, despite the large area that the event covered, it could be heard from almost anywhere around that area. There was also music played whenever there were no announcements being made. There were 7 large LCD screens at the main tent constantly displaying the various race results and subsequent race lineups. Participants were also fully informed and well briefed on the procedures and order in which the event would take place. Thus everything was very orderly with no hint of chaos or confusion anywhere. It was very easy to spot the stalls selling food and beverages, and the make shift toilet signs were also easy to find. Thus the general layout of the event was very good. The organization of the various participating teams was also very well done, as the teams were always aware of when they would race, and where they should be waiting. There was also a sufficient number of volunteers and organizers around to help people with enquiries and maintain order and attend to any of the participants needs or queries.This event had a lot of potential to meet tourist demand as this concept of a dragon boat tug is rather a new one that has not been seen in many other places. Moreover, many private European clubs were targeted, hence it would have attracted many tourists to visit and have a look at what their expatriates in Singapore were involved in. This would be able to attract the more sporty class of tourist, who enjoys sports and the sun.
Raising the value of the event could be made possible by broadening the target market from private companies and clubs to more of the general public, specifically schools with dragon boat teams, both local and from neighboring countries. There could also be much more advertising done in terms of print and online media to attract the attention of potential participants. If the event is on large enough a scale, it might even attract the parents and friends of competitors from other countries to come as supporters. The organizer would have to find a much larger venue that will be able to accommodate this huge number of people, as the current one used for the Ultimate Dragon Tug is unable to hold too many people.
