Jackie Miao

It’s official! Tourism Queensland has chosen Ben Southall as their Island Caretaker.

Ben is the hardiest and most impressive candidate as far as extreme adventurism goes. It is very hard to top the Land Rover roaring, tough-as-nails man who climbed 5 mountains and ran 5 marathons in the same year in some of the toughest conditions in Africa. I know he’ll be able to hack this job because of the physical and mental requirements of the role. He’s as tough as they come and so is his toughbook (which he showed to us the last time we met up)!

I’m sure he’s inundated with media requests at the moment and I’ll wait till this dies down to congratulate him privately. I would however like to congratulate everyone from the Top 50 to the Top 16 for all their achievements and I thank Tourism Queensland for the amazing experience. I’ve made good contacts from this campaign and have a renewed sense of purpose because of the Best Job in the World. Money can be made in many ways but the experience is something money cannot buy.

I hope that the Top 15 who didn’t make it will know that you’re all winners. I remember how disappointed some of the Top 50s were when we didn’t make it to Hamilton Island but look up because the opportunities for other things have just begun and I hope to get to meet the rest of you one day.

Two days ago, I blogged about my Saturday evening with the Typhoon Tigers and need to make a correction about a stat that is shamefully outdated. In one of the photos, I had stated that the Typhoon Tigers were ranked 6th in the United Kingdom, which was a stat I got a year or two ago from distant memory.

The Typhoon Tigers getting mentally ready at the 2008 BDA Victoria championships | Photo: Alan To

Andrew Liu (last year’s captain) wrote to update me that they ranked 3rd in the 200m and 4th in the 500m last year in the 2008 British Dragon Boat Racing Association nationals (BDA). It was also their first year competing in the Premier League and to achieve those results is just an amazing feat, bearing in mind that some of their competitors are actually paddling for Great Britain. My apologies for the outdated info. Here is an updated 2008 photo of the team!

The Typhoon Tigers! I LOVE THEM! | Photo: Alan To

I am so proud I even got the chance to train with them at the Royal Albert Docks in 2007 and feel inextricably linked to them wherever and whenever the words “dragon boat” appears in conversation. If I should ever find myself back in London again on a more permanent basis, I’ll be sure to join them for training again.

Typhoon Tigers Warming up at BDA Victoria 2008 | Photo: Alan To

When it comes to dragon boating, there is no other team for me but the Typhoon Tigers from London. Such a fantastic bunch of people with so much fight you’d think that what started from a couple of friends six years ago, is now a 44-team strong Premier League team! I can’t wait till the day some of them make the Olympics when it becomes an event! Look at them go at it… woah!

Typhoon Tigers in action at BDA Nottingham 2008 Photo: Jo

The season has just begun and I have no doubt they’ll be fighting with everything they’ve got to go up in the rankings in Britain this year. This weekend, they’ll be racing their first event up in Liverpool. I’ll be sure to keep in close contact with them and also pick on this year’s captain Daniel Chin’s brains over the course of the season.

They are also recruiting, so if you’d like to join a team that is committed to results and fun, consider going to one of their training sessions on Saturdays at the Royal Albert Docks in the Docklands. More information about joining the Typhoon Tigers can be found here.

GO TYPHOON! I’ll be rooting for you all the way in Asia.