I’m trying desperately to put my paddle in the water at the exact same time as Cindy, who is sitting in front of me and setting the pace for our boat. At the same time, I’m trying to remember all of the tips given to us by the coxswain (that’s the guy or gal who steers the boat, Jim!). Bend at the waist, paddle in the water hip to hip, straight in and straight out…

The Velsoft Vipers — made up of employees and their family members, 17 of us — are speeding toward the finish line in a dragon boat as part of Race on the River. Cindy is counting, my daughter Victoria is banging on the drum in time with the strokes of the front two paddlers — Clare and Cindy, someone says “Sorry!” and I think, ‘Oh no! Did I splash Tia, who is sitting behind me?’

My thoughts are racing like the boat as it glides through the water on New Glasgow’s East River. Paddle in, paddle out, paddle in, paddle out… the race seemed shorter on Monday during practice. It’s only about a minute long — six sets of 10 strokes — I meant to keep track. How far is it to the finish line? DO NOT look up, keep paddling, why isn’t this over yet, stay in sync, my arms hurt, I can’t breathe, when is this going to END?

And then suddenly we’ve crossed the finish line, and the other two boats are right there beside us. Who won? It was close, so close.

I’m panting slightly, and my heart is racing. Although seconds earlier I couldn’t wait for the race to be over, now I want to do it again. It’s completely exhilarating! So much fun!

“Take it away slowly,” says the coxswain, and we make our way back to the dock. As we dip our paddles into the water in a leisurely rhythm, we hear the race times announced. “Shhh … listen!” We weren’t third, we weren’t second — we won the heat!

A cheer goes up from everyone on our boat, followed by paddles in the air, high fives, and smiles all around. What a feeling!

While the Velsoft Vipers didn’t win the corporate challenge division of the Race on the River (we placed 10th overall) — winning two out of three races was thrilling.

But the best feeling? Along with the sense of coming together as a team to make the boat move, finding out that we helped to raise $98,000 for three worthy organizations: Women Alike Breast Cancer Survivors Society, Special Olympics Northern Region, and the Pictou County Prostate Cancer Support Association.

At Friday night’s opening ceremonies, representatives from each beneficiary group spoke about how much the funds raised mean to them. For Special Olympics, it means acceptance and inclusion through giving athletes the chance to participate in sport, opportunities for training, and travelling to competitions. Women Alike and the Prostate Cancer Support Association have used monies to support people dealing with breast and prostate cancer, given funds to the Lodge that Gives (which provides accommodations to those who are medically required to travel to Halifax for cancer treatment), and purchased equipment for the local hospital to assist those with these diseases. They all expressed deep, deep appreciation.

For those of you who weren’t able to participate this year, we plan to be back on the water at the Race on the River again next year, and hope you’ll be able to take part. It was a blast! But don’t just take my word for it. Here are thoughts from some of our team members:

Cindy (account representative):

There were many memorable moments about the day! I enjoyed the excitement, the camaraderie, team accomplishments and varied conversations. The end result: laughter, wet clothes, big hearts, big smiles, deeper bonds and a deeper understanding about the value of supporting local charities. Everyone was all in, as we are all in this boat called “life” together! Paddles up for next year!

Ben (content strategist):

Lindsay and I had a fun time. We don’t typically get out to do a whole lot with other people, so it was nice to have a day to spend with great people for a great cause. My favorite part of the day was beating both Sobeys teams at once in our heat with them.

Luke (privacy officer):

I had a great time! I had never paddled before, and even though I’m not a huge fan of swimming anymore, I really enjoyed being on the water in the boat. It was also a great feeling when our team was able to paddle in unity and stay together. It’s remarkable the difference you notice on the water when everyone paddles at the same time. The community is also a great aspect of this, and it was great seeing all of the other teams getting in to the spirit, and everyone else who came to cheer on and support. Overall, we definitely grew as a group, and had great fun doing it.

Kevin (content creation manager):

Our first race took place earlier than scheduled, and four of our team members didn’t arrive in time to get on the boat. Others filled in for them which was great — Jim on the drum and spare paddler Jean – but it wasn’t the same without our whole team there. That made me realize that the day wasn’t about the racing -— it was about being together as a team.

Jean (international sales):

I truly enjoyed the day … One more thing off my bucket list (not that it was on it) LOL. The event was very well organized and it was nice to reconnect with some of the Velsoft team players and even better, being outside the office environment! Next year we’ll need a well-trained, aggressive znanja warriors green team to win most races and a more social Velsoft blue team, with t-shirts and head gear and capes to distract the other teams and make us win again.

What’s in the Pipeline:

  • Ben is finishing up some external projects and starting some new ones.
  • Carol is editing new courses and writing blogs.
  • Chris is adding text-to-speech audio to our entire course library.
  • Clare is creating pdf course instructor guide samples.
  • Jan is working on CA course components and QAing eLearning.
  • Sydney is working on custom projects and eLearning courses.

Tech Topics:

  • Fixed an issue causing dropdowns not to work properly in the Single-SCO connector packages.

Course Count:

Courses released this month:

Here is the official count of courses for both courseware and eLearning, broken down by Computer and SoftSkills.

Computer SoftSkills Total Courses
Courseware 282 171 453
eLearning 910 167 1077