The Wuxi Dragon Boat team won the 2004 Shanghai International Dragon Boat Race along Suzhou Creek in Shanghai yesterday.

　　"We are very pleased to win the championship," said one paddler on the winning team. "We have trained hard for two days. It is self-confidence and unity that helped us win."

　　Teams from Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, and Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, finished in second and third place respectively.

　　Altogether 30 professional and amateur teams from six regions took part in the race yesterday. Hundreds of spectators turned out to watch along the 250-meter route from Jiangning Road to Changhua Road.

　　Those in attendance said they were impressed with the ongoing clean-up of the waterway.

　　"Suzhou Creek is so clean after treatment that we can enjoy the dragon boat race on the banks now. In the past it was dirty and foul-smelling," said a spectator surnamed Huang.