Our cover girl from Easter Sunday has become quite a hit on social media. The "rainy" zoom pictures I took of her after winning the 3rd final of the YSW Tin Hau dragonboat festival on Easter Sunday are some of my favourites in the 15 years of photographing this event every year for this Lamma-zine. I asked this first-time Lamma Dragon Lady for a few words:

Alice Duncan writes: "Dragon Heart

If I had been told, three months prior to last Sunday, that I would one day be sitting with nineteen other people in a boat, holding a paddle and partaking in one of the most physically demanding sports I have ever come across, I would have laughed hysterically and gone back to my breakfast pint. I am no sportswoman and have never been involved in any team beyond mandatory year nine hockey. Yet after trying dragon boating for the first time - after being convinced by two friends in the pub (who coincidentally were too hung over to show up to practice the next day) - I somehow got hooked and on Sunday I had my first experience of racing in one.

I ran the gamut of emotions that day. I started out excited which turned to nervousness right before the first heat. That melted into nearly tears and self deprecation after I lost my grip on my paddle letting it skip over the water in the last few strokes of the second heat. This in turn became steely determination at the beginning of the final which quickly mutated into adrenaline fuelled hysteria as we passed the centre line (Sorry teammates for screaming at you, I was just excited). Then breathless, shaky happiness as I was told the news. We won, we did it!

"We" is a bit of a novel concept for me. Having never really done the team sports thing I was surprised by how emotional I felt. Dragon boating is difficult. It requires a lot of physical and mental strength and this incredible team had supported me all the way. Even when I turned up hung over, even when I came straight from Wan Chai. When I wanted to cry, puke, quit altogether these amazing people kept me coming back every weekend and I don't think they even realised they were doing it. I owe all my happy feelings in that moment to them.

After the races I am told we are going down to the beach with the rest of competitors to sit in our respective boats, drink beer and splash each other. Sounds like a laugh, I'm up for it. What I did not expect while sitting in that boat, tired, sore and a little tipsy was to be overwhelmed by a sense of belonging to a larger entity than myself. I have always been a very independent person and expat life can be isolating at times. Drenched and aching I felt part of a team and part of Lamma in a way I never have before, and grueling as the day was I wouldn't change a thing. I have grabbed the tail of the dragon, and I may never let go."

P.S. Alice liked her photo so much, it's now her Facebook page header.