SINGAPORE - National Junior College (NJC) swept both the boys' and girls' titles at the schools' A Division DB12 200-metre races on the second day of the DBS Marina Regatta yesterday.

Nanyang JC and Raffles Institution were second in the boys' and girls' races respectively.

But the honours in the boys' DB22 race went to Nanyang JC at The Promontory@Marina Bay. NJC had to settle for the silver.

St Joseph's Institution captured the bronze in all three races.

Marcus Ng, 18, NJC's boys' captain, said: "I feel happy that we've won. We worked very hard for this. Some other schools worked very hard too, so it was tough.

"It was also difficult because the waters were more choppy compared to the venues that we'd trained in before.

"Our team vision is, 'Heart and soul, go the distance.' After every training, this is instilled into us. I think this is what kept us going in the race."

Lim Shi Yun, 18, his counterpart in the girls' team added: "The team is made up of kayakers and canoeists and the technique is relatively similar (to dragon boating), so it actually helps us pick up the sport a lot faster. Being able to win the title for two years in a row is really good."

Matthew Chang, NYJC captain, attributed the his school's success to team work.

He said: "Everyone matters in the team and everyone has their role to play. We trained hard for months and months, enduring training to correct their weaknesses so that our weakest link wouldn't be weak anymore.

"Overall, I'm proud of the team because it was a team effort. We rowed together, harder, deeper, faster."

The DBS Marina Regatta will continue over the weekend with 500m races and 200m races respectively. In addition to all the competition in the bay, the urban pop-up beach returns for its third year. There is also the inflatable water obstacle course, Bay Dome, and Play Dome with activities all lined up for participants to enjoy.