Ulsan celebrated its whaling heritage at the Annual Whale Festival this weekend, where many foreigners were competing in teams in the rowing competition. We have had two weekends of practice and now was the final race day. Unfortunately, the heats started from 9am and we had a 90 min bus ride from Daegu to get to the Taewha River. I had tried getting the organizers to move the start time as many of us were travelling from out of town. The best they could do was put us in the last heat at 9.50. This gave us a bit more time to take the 730am bus from Daegu to Ulsan. I had to wake up at 5am and be at the bus stop at 6am, not knowing if buses would be running this early or if I'd have to take a 12,000w cab ($11). Luckily the buses were running and I got to the bus terminal at 7am, plenty of time to catch the 730 bus. Next problem was getting the bus driver to drop us at the river park. He drives along the river past the festival area when he arrives in Ulsan. We tried telling him to let us off but he kept saying no. When we reached Ulsan I tried going to the front again to ask him but he repeated no, even though we were driving by the festival site and could see all the boats and tents setup. At the bus terminal we had to take a cab back for about 4000w ($3.50) which only worked out to about a $1 each between the three of us that had travelled from Daegu. We found our team tent and headed over to watch the first heat. This was different from when we practiced in that they had lanes marked out like in a swimming pool. Boats would paddle to the far end of the river for the starting position then race back upstream to the finish line by the docks. Then the next team would alternate into the boats. We were in the last heat and wasnt sure how we would do as 1/3 of our members had never come to any of the practices, so we had never practiced as an entire team to get the technique down and synchronize our movements. While paddling to the starting line we got some practice and for the new members to get the rhythm going. At the starting blocks we were waiting for one team to paddle over but they were stuck at the far end of the river going in circles. Perhaps they hadnt practiced and they ended up being towed by one of the motor boats to the starting line. We anxiously waited for the starting gun and paddled with all our strength. Surprisingly we won our heat and were the first to finish. As we turned round the boat that had to be towed was still in the starting block and hadnt event raced! The qualifying heats were time races so the fastest finish times would qualify regardless of position reached. We had a time of 1 min 15 secs and were first in our heat so chances were favourable, and we did end up qualifying for the second round. We had a 10 min rest while the other teams raced in their heat then we were back for the second heat. Confident from our first victory we hoped to do well. But again it was a time trial so our time counted not what position we were in. This race was tougher as perhaps we used all our energy in the first heat. We were trailing and somewhere in the middle of the pack. It was a photo finish and I'm not sure if we were 3rd or not. However, our time was 1 min 11 secs, faster than our first race. When they announced teams for the semi finals we had in fact made it thru. Our third race was crucial as again it was a time trial and we needed a consistently good time to make it to the last and final race which would be the final. We seemed to get our strength back and were consistently in number two position. The third and fourth boats were tied and almost a half boat length behind us and the leading boat. We made it thru the semi final easily in number two position leaving third and fourth position almost a boat length behind. As it was a time trial it looked favourable that we would have a lead over the third and fourth boats finish times. Triumphantly we had made it to the finals. We just needed all our strength to get us into the top three finishing positions, although we wouldnt mind number one either. For each race we had had a 10 min break to get some food to recharge our energy and rest our muscles. This race however was back to back with no time to rest or recharge. So we paddled over to the starting blocks anxiously waiting the final race. For some reason our boat was not aligned and we kept trying to straighten our boat on the starting block. The judges couldnt see and were going to start the race so we had to keep shouting no. Eventually we aligned our boat and were ready to race. As soon as the starting call went we were slow off the start. I could see we were trailing all the boats about 1/3 length. We tried as best as we could putting all our efforts in this last and most crucial race but we could not change our position from 1/3 behind. Sadly we finished last in the final so were 5th overall out of 15 teams that started that day. We were dissapointed that we lost and bewildered as to what happened to cause us to be so weak? Perhaps it was the lack of rest and that our boat wasnt straight so we werent focussed. However, it was an accomplishment making it to the finals, despite the fact that 1/3 of our team had never come to the practices and we had never rowed before as a team. Afterwards there was lunch provided, hot dogs, and free beer (which had a massive line up). It was a nice hot day with a clear sky and it felt like hanging out at the beach with so many foreigners. The event was organized by T-HOPE Korea (teachers helping other people everywhere) an Ulsan based charity group that helps out in orphanages and other community activities. We had paid 10,000w for the event ($9.50) and proceeds would go to their local charities. Afterwards we had time to walk over to the other end of the river park to see the Whale Festival events going on, but we didnt have much energy so just took the festival free shuttle bus back to the bus terminal to head home. We plan to come back to whale watching out on the ocean later in the summer You can read more about last years whale festival here http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1306676453/tpod.html and our first rowing practice http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1334587437/tpod.html