Prince William goes dragon boating in Singapore ahead of ceremony

Britain's Prince William, center, participates in a dragon boat event in Singapore on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Britain's Prince William took to the waters in Singapore for a morning of dragon boating Monday, ahead of activities for the annual Earthshot Prize awards aimed at promoting solutions for the planet’s environmental threats.

Donning a life vest and a black cap, the Prince of Wales sat in a long narrow boat as he paddled with athletes from the British Dragons club on the Kallang river. Working in pairs, William and the other 19 paddlers rowed vigorously to the steady beat of a drummer standing in the bow.

His boat triumphed in a brief race with another boat captained by British High Commissioner Kara Owen. It was not the first time for William, an avid sportsman who tried his hand at dragon boating with his wife, Kate, the Princess of Wales, during a tour of Canada in 2011.

Dragon boat racing, originating from China, can be traced back nearly 2,000 years before it became a modern international sport in 1976.

It debuted as a medal sport at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where South Korea took bronze in the men's 1000-meter final. South Korea won its second-ever dragon boat medal, beating North Korea to win bronze in the women's 1000-meter grand final at the Hangzhou Asian Games in October.

South edges out North to win dragon boat bronze

Team Korea — a combined team of South Korea and North Korea — won one gold and two bronze medals in dragon boat at the 2018 Asiad in Jakarta, Indonesia.

William, 41, arrived Sunday ahead of the annual Earthshot Prize awards ceremony, the first to be held in Asia. William and his Royal Foundation charity launched the global environment competition in 2020 to promote innovative solutions and technologies to combat global warming and repair the planet.

“I was lucky enough to be sitting next to him, and he is just a really nice guy," said Laura Greenwood, a British expat who is a member of the British Dragons. “He has dragon boated before, so he felt kind of confident in what he was doing ... It was quite fast pace, so he kept up really well.”

AP