International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission

Our primary goal is to ensure that international Breast Cancer Survivor participation festivals and international competitive events are raising awareness about life after a diagnosis of and treatment for breast cancer.

Introduction and Background

The concept of an international organisation composed of teams of people living with breast cancer has been discussed on and off since 1998. The first meeting of interested representatives from Australia, Canada and the United States took place in Toronto in 2001.

These representatives continued to communicate informally and contact was established with the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF).  (The IDBF is the organisation that designs and manages the rules for dragon boat racing recognised world wide.) The breast cancer representatives were particularly thrilled when the IDBF announced in Rome in 2002 that it was prepared to hold races for breast cancer teams within its festivals. And, they have done so, beginning with the World Dragon Boat Championships in Poznan, Poland in 2003.

Interest in an international organisation continued and subsequently, in Vancouver in 2005, a meeting was held to discuss the formation of the International Pink Dragon Boat Council (IPDBC).  Initiating countries were Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Singapore.  The IPDBC continued to work with the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF).

Recently breast cancer races have become part of the IDBF World Corporate and Community Championships (CorComs).  These IDBF World CorComs are held every second year (alternating with the IDBF World Club Crew Championships). The first IDBF World CorCom was held in Berlin in September 2005 and the second in Welland, Ontario, Canada in July 2007.

In addition, over the last two years, international breast cancer events have been organised by different breast cancer teams: international participatory breast cancer festivals such as Ten Years Abreast Celebration in Vancouver in 2005, and the Abreast in Australia 2007 Festival in Australia, and an international competitive event, the Singapore Championships in 2006.

It has been agreed that:

• efforts should be made to co-ordinate international participatory  breast cancer festivals such as Vancouver and Australia;

• breast cancer teams who wish to be competitive will paddle in events such as the IDBF World CorComs; and

• ensure current members of the IBCPC work on developing a structure, policy and guidelines for the organisation after which representatives of all nations will be invited to join.