In their first attempt at dragon boat racing, a group of Long Beach officers snagged a third place finish, beating their own expectations over the weekend at Long Beach’s Marine Stadium.

“No one expected us to place third in division three,” said Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) Officer Cham Sok, one of the team’s organizers. “We gave it everything we got and moved up from the lowest division.”

The members of “Team Finest” were expected to race in the fourth division since everyone, except for Sok, was new to the event. However, after placing second in the first race, the team was moved up a division, Sok said.

The Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival is held every July at Marine Stadium. According to its website, it is described as an amateur water sport rooted in ancient southern Chinese folk ritual, and has existed as a competition for over the past 2000 years.

“While ‘competition’ has taken place annually for more than 20 centuries as part of religious ceremonies and folk customs, dragon boat racing has emerged in modern times as an international sport,” the website stated.

Congratulations to LBPD “Team Finest” for taking 3rd Place at LB Dragon Boat Race. @LongBeachPD_CA #joinlbpd pic.twitter.com/ACaeNXQOhp — joinlbpd (@joinlbpd) July 31, 2016

The two-day event also featured Chinese traditional art demonstrations, Chinese acrobats, traditional dance and martial arts performances.

“We are super excited about how we did and definitely want to do it again next year and go for better,” Sok said.