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Paddle With A Purpose

By Cindy Crowell.Director of Public Relations.Paddles with a Purpose.Five years ago, in July 2019, a group of remarkable women came together to form Paddles with a Purpose, a Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat team in Austin, Texas. On July 18th they gathered to celebrate their strength, resilience, and the incredible journey they have been on together for the past 5 years.Paddles with a Purpose was founded just before the world was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the unprecedented ...

Dragon Boat Atlanta

In the heart of Atlanta, nestled amidst the urban landscape and bustling city life, a unique movement began to take shape in 2004. On that chilly February afternoon, Dragon Boat Atlanta embarked on its maiden voyage, marking the inception of a journey that would span two decades of camaraderie, resilience, and empowerment. Founded by Beverly Booth, inspired by the dragon boat program for cancer survivors in Charleston, South Carolina overseen by her cousin Sterling, Dragon Boat Atlanta emerged a...

Dragon Divas

The Dragon Divas of Saint Paul, Minnesota were honored last night by the Minnesota Senior Sports Association (MSSA) as their 2024 Team of the Year! The Minnesota Senior Sports Association is dedicated to encouraging and supporting Minnesotans aged 50 and older in their pursuit of competitive athletics.Dragon Divas attended an awards banquet along with other honorees from Minnesota that encompassed sports from Jui Jitsu to pickleball, a former olympian, to an honoree who ran the Boston Marathon ...

Dragons Abreast Blue Mountains

Submitted by Janette Fry, Co-Founder - Dragons Abreast Blue Mountains.Dragons Abreast Blue Mountains is a very new and small Breast Cancer Survivor club in the Blue Mountains area of New South Wales, Australia approximately 1.5 hours west of Sydney.Recently on July 6th of this year we celebrated our First Birthday and Official Launch Day. We currently have 14 members and are building with several new members ready to join.We paddle on the beautiful and picturesque Wentworth Falls Lake and our Mo...

Dragons Abreast Mackay

Submitted by Cheryl Machen.We are so excited to be fielding a full breast cancer survivor team from Mackay for the 2026 IBCPC Participatory Festival in France. This is the first time we have been able to do this. For past international events we have had to rely on our friends from Townsville and Gippsland to help us make up a full team.To assist our members with registration and accommodation expenses we have planned several fundraisers, with the most recent being a very successful Pearls &...

Editor's Report

I was sitting in the boat on the night of our first practice when I heard someone crying behind me.  I thought that maybe I had splashed too much water or that my reach had encroached in her space.  I turned around and Jenny said, “I dreamed about this during chemo.”  That’s the impact of dragon boating and that’s why we do what we do.  Read more about Jenny’s story in this edition of the newsletter. The registrations for France 2026 are incredible.  This ...

News From Brazil

Submitted by MÁRCIA DENISE IULIANO SOUZA.Drummer da Equipe Meninas do Lago.(English Translation Follows)O PARAJAPS é o maior evento paradesportivo do Estado do Paraná, que envolve atletas de todos os municípios em diversas modalidades esportivas, individuais e coletivas.Em 2023, a disputa em Dragon Boat participou desse evento apenas como demonstração de uma modalidade esportiva e contou com a participação de 3 equipes e quase 70 atletas sobreviventes do câncer de mama. Já em 2024, a m...

Vienna Pink Dragons

Submitted by Svenja Franke-Bruhn.IPCPC National Representative Germany and Country Liaison Austria.The Vienna Pink Dragons were delighted to welcome the Go Europe Pink Dragons crew to the Dragon Boat Cup East in June, held this time in Korneuburg, a picturesque small town near Vienna. For the fourth time, after 2017, 2019, and 2022, they organized a pink-tinted welcome side program around the Dragonboat Cup East.You can read about this festival weekend from the Go Europe Pink Dragons crew's pers...

Go Europe Pink Dragons

Submitted by Christina Bremer, Hannover.Following the Pentecost visit of a Go Europe Pink Dragons composite team formed of paddlers from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland (please read the news and see the pictures from Germany), another Go Europe Pink Dragons team met in Vienna for a reunion, another regatta and a picnic with the Vienna Pink Dragons in June. Our team, this time 18 paddlers with 6 nationalities, Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany and Northern Ireland, got t...

President's Report

Greetings everybody.It has been a quiet six weeks for me as I have been recovering from shoulder surgery. I am hopeful that this second surgery after my accident last year will finally get me back to being able to paddle as I have really missed it this last season.It has been fantastic watching all the racing going on in the northern hemisphere particularly the inaugural CanAm championships held in Welland, Canada in which several of our breast cancer teams were competing. Brilliant to see Rowbu...

News From Panama

By Floribeth Campos de Finizio.On June 1st and 2nd, in Panama City we had the opportunity to have the 8th Dragon Boat festival with more than 30 teams. In Our Category there were 6 breast cancersurvivor teams. It was a beautiful setting for the Remos Arriba Rosas V Region de Chile team to come to Panama, as well as the Pura Vida Dragon Rosa team from Costa Rica. It was their first time participating in a festival, and all together with two teams from Pink Warriors, Mamas pal Agua and Dragon Hea...

Abreast of Life – Christchurch

Submitted by Janice Melville.Dragon Boat Nationals – April 5th-6th, 2024The New Zealand dragon boat Nationals were held at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge. The same place as the Festival last year. This year we had lovely weather on the Friday and Saturday. It got to about 28 degrees on the Saturday and no wind!Our team was one of seven teams competing in the breast cancer standard boat division and one of nine completing in the small boat division. We had a very early start on the Friday morning, wi...

In Memory of André Poirier

Submitted by Chantal Lachance.It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of André Poirier, member of Vise-a-Vie Dragon boat team. André Poirier was one of the men who had taken part in an interview in Sarasota, Florida with the 3 other men, Herb Wagner (Florida), André Poirier (our teammate) and Mark O’Connor (Ireland) and Steve McDougall  (Ontario) not in the picture.  André was also part of the 2018 festival in Italy.  He was always advocating t...

Auckland Anniversary Day

Submitted by Katherine Waller.Monday, January 29th, 2024, the Auckland Viaduct basin came alive with the vibrant sights and sounds of dragon boat racing as part of the 184th Oceanbridge Auckland Anniversary Day regatta celebrations. There was a lot of excitement being able to get on the water for this event due to the last 3 years being canceled due to Covid and the horrendous weather bomb that hit us last year causing devastating flooding across the city and wider areas.Cindy, one of our more e...

News From Argentina

The year 2024 burst onto the scene with a wave of good news for the Amazonas de Córdoba Foundation.  Just a few years ago, in 2017, they were just a small group of women who, against all odds, achieved the unimaginable. But now, they've surpassed all expectations, extending their support to more women than they ever thought possible.From those early days to the present, Amazonas de Córdoba has become a beacon of hope for over 190 women and one man who have bravely faced breast cancer. &nb...

Team Awards

Compiled by Louise Granahan.Does you team have an awards ceremony? Do you recognize teammates who make special contributions to your team at an end of year dinner?Here are some ideas for some serious and silly awards that you might want to hand out to say thank you to teammates and volunteers.Most SpiritedBest fundraiserBest AttitudeBest Practice Attendance AwardEnergizer Bunny (Most Energy)Best rookieIn Sync awardMost Heart for the SportCoach’s Award (good listening, shows a lot of passion)Mo...

Malaga Dragon Boat BCS

The Malaga Dragon Boat BCS (Breast Cancer Survivor) team is pioneer in Andalusia in this activity and the fourth team in Spain. It was created in 2018 by the oncologist Julia Ruiz Vozmediano. She started this activity in the city of Malaga with the support of the Real Club Mediterráneo, one of the most important and historical paddling clubs in the country.It is currently made up of more than 30 women, who practice this sport in two different styles, rowing bench-fixed and dragon boat paddeling...

Ireland News

Submitted by Marion Egan.Depending on their location many of the Irish teams cannot train through Winter and start training in March and April. Many clubs have used this time to prepare their training plans for a busy summer.Grainne Mhaols, based in beautiful Lough Lannagh in Co. Mayo restarted their training in March and welcomed some members from the Plurabelle Paddlers in Dublin on a bitterly cold Saturday morning for one of their first training sessions of 2024. This was a weekend of fun, fr...

Dragica's Story

Submitted by Dragica Maric.From Newbie to Australian Championship paddler.Dragons Abreast Melbourne Pink Phoenix member Australia.I was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer at the age of 44. At the time, I unfortunately didn't want to talk about breast cancer to others, and I didn't want to be around other women who had breast cancer or who were undergoing breast cancer treatment.However, in early 2023, everything had changed, and by mid 2023 I had approached Dr Monique Ryan MP to assist me wit...

Paddles Up from Southern California!

Submitted by Bette Ann Baker.The Los Angeles Pink Dragons are celebrating our 21st year of paddling out of Mother’s Beach in Long Beach, California.It is hard to out-do last year’s IBCPC festival in New Zealand, but we’re trying to keep it going! We thoroughly enjoyed Lake Karapiro and meeting so many of you; it was certainly a highlight for us.This year will be more subtle; but we’ve already had a couple of pre-season events.In February 2024 we were honored by California State Long Beac...

Editor's Report

Submitted by Louise Granahan.It feels so good to be paddling again here in Canada after a long absence.  While our winter wasn’t very severe this year (in Toronto anyway), we can’t paddle from November to April/May. I hope that by now you have been able to register for France 2026.  I can’t believe it is only 2 years away.  The time will fly by!  There are so many things to think about already – will I need a new passport, will I need visas for the other countrie...

Scams

Submitted by Louise Granaham.It is amazing to be able to use technology to follow races, communicate with teammates, get information about regattas, etc.  Sadly, scammers are also a part of technology.  During the New Zealand 2024 Festival, a number of bogus Facebook pages tried to use our feed and then connect with people who were unaware that this was not from the IBCPC. These scams have happened again at the most recent festival in Auckland and at Worlds in Thailand, so there i...

Olympic Flame

This Olympic year will be a busy one for the Dragon Ladies. No medal in sight, of course, but an extraordinary showcase. Three French crews will be represented among the torchbearers.The Olympic flame arrived on French soil on 8 May, in Marseille (Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region). It has to travel 12,000 kilometres before arriving in Paris on 26 July.During this voyage, which will shed light on the history of France and those who wrote it, on our natural heritage, on French creativity and kno...

Official Statement

The International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission is a non-political, non-partisan organization.  As such, we will not make any political statements supporting or denouncing any political actions.  The IBCPC has a zero-tolerance policy with regards to racism, classism, ableism, ageism, sexism, trans and homophobia, religious intolerance or any actions that deny human rights to our members.  Any accusations levelled by a member against another member, or a member of the Board ...

Sport Accord Summit

Submitted by Meri Gibson.What an adventure it was to be able to get to the SportAccord on time. I finished my role as Event Safety Director at the New Zealand Dragon Boat National championships, hopped in a car and drove two hours to Auckland to get ready to board a flight to Dubai with a short stop over and then on to Birmingham. I had been flying for 25 hours plus the wait time of two hours in between connections in Dubai. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon in Birmingham only to be told that I ha...