Rowers dig in for Bali bomb victims.

(From South China Morning Post)

Byline: Gwyneth Roberts

The Bondi Diggers dragon boat team will pay tribute to two of their members who died in the Bali bombings last year as they power through the waters off Stanley at Wednesday's Dragon Boat Festival.

Stephen Speirs and Tom Holmes were long-time members of the team that won the expat men's dragon boat title six years in a row. Holmes was a member throughout the winning streak, while Speirs joined a year later.

"After what happened in Bali, a lot of guys decided it would be good this year to win it for Steve and Tom. They were part of the backbone of the team," captain Jason Cummings said. "It was a struggle getting it [the team] together but we managed it in the end."

The Bondi Diggers did not compete last year because many founding members had left Hong Kong or were competing in other events. Remnants of the team competed socially as the Mixed-Up Diggers, finishing second in the men's plate division.

"In about March or April a couple of us spontaneously contacted each other and decided we'd try to get the team back together," said Ross Hughes, a member since 2001. "There were only about five of us from the original team and we managed to pull together another 20 guys."