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France Bulletin #2

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France Bulletin #3

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From the Desk of the Editor

Submitted by Louise GranahanAs I write this from Canada’s frozen north, it is frustrating to know that it will be many more months before I can get back on the water. In the meantime, I lift weights, do cardio and make plans for France!As your Communications Director, I am responsible for updating the Facebook page, responding to correspondence, editing the newsletter and attending regular IBCPC Board of Directors meetings. The Board meets about once a month. Lately, we have also been working ...

New Constellation

Submitted by Mariana Fernandez Semhan and Mathilda YahniSaben una cosa, cuando miro al agua, automáticamente miro al cielo y me pregunto: ¿el cielo quiere ostentar una nueva constelación al agua o el agua se ondula insistente para llamar la atención del cielo? Cielo, agua, agua, cielo.Como sea, en este ritual entre el agua y el cielo existe un lugar sagrado. Una constelación perdida sin nombre. Un lugar festivo y caudaloso. Un sitio bullicioso custodiado por un dragón, donde se reúnen un ...

Hurricane Paradragons

Submitted by Wendy GroseNew team on view from your flight to London!Introducing the Hurricane Paragons DBC from Staines, London a couple of miles south of Heathrow airport.We are a newish team that paddle at Silver Lakes under the flight path of Heathrow airport, our training often gets interrupted as we can’t hear our coach from the noise of the planes taking off from the airport. The lovely lake is owned by British Airways and we have the benefits of a lovely club house where we have club su...

WonderBroads

Submitted by SandiThe WonderBroads had a wonderful, successful season celebrating their 20th Anniversary this year. We kicked off the year with an anniversary banquet attended by supporters, sponsors, family and friends.We welcomed new paddlers this season and after participating in races and proudly winning 4 medals, our newbies are hooked on dragon boating!We competed strong this year and ended making a difference in fighting this disease by standing for a cure and better treatments for prolon...

From the Desk of the President

Submitted by Meri GibsonWOW, what a few months it has been since we put out our last newsletter. So much has happened that we want to bring you up to speed. You will see in this newsletter, which is now edited by Louise Granahan, our communications director, that there are over 30 articles! It’s just brilliant to see teams so engaged in wanting to be a part of this newsletter and to share their stories.For me personally there has been a lot of travelling, a lot of helping to establish breast c...

From the Desk of the Editor

Submitted by Louise GranahanAs your new IBCPC Communications Director, one of my responsibilities is to edit the newsletter. With your help, I have collected some articles from around the world.It was amazing for me to read about team and personal successes and growth. Thanks for all of your ideas for things to bring to a regatta. I have compiled them into a handy list.By now you have heard the news about France 2026 in Aix-les-Bains! I have included information on registration and participation...

Greetings From Croatia!

Submitted by: Dubravka (Buba) Karlovic-BabicPresident DBKZ and IBCPC Croatia RepUpdate/news since our last newsletter report in September 2022:Dear IBCPC members and teams! Croatian Dragonboat Klub Zadar is thriving and has so much to tell you! So many wonderful things have happened over the past year, so I’ll try to be very specific:October 2022We participated in a dragon boat cup in the town of Prelog (Croatia) where we presented the DB sport especially as a pink team. We were interviewed by...

Panama

Submitted by Floribeth Campos de FinizioGreetings from a beautiful country in Central America, PANAMÁ, a place with amazing landscapes, tropical beauty, and a land of the Pink Warriors PTY Team, since 2019 @pinkwarriorspanamaWe are celebrating Cancer Awareness Prevention Month. As you know, October is one of the most important months in the year, since it represents an opportunity to help other people raise awareness about prevention and early detection. With our testimonies, we work to sha...

France 2026

Registration InformationLac du BourgetAix-les-BainsAugust 24-30, 2026Website: http://www.ibcpcfrance2026.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibcpcfrance2026Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ibcpcfrance2026Who can participate?This event is only open to Breast Cancer Survivors. Prior to the event, you will require a form from your doctor stating that you have had breast cancer. Previvors, eg. those with genetic predisposition to breast cancer but who have not had breast cancer...

Pink Power Kowelenz

Submitted by Katja Stein, Pink Power KowelenzSince its establishment in October 2021 the pink team has not only grown in numbers but has also surpassed all expectations. This year has proven very successful with their attendance at three regattas, with two consecutive wins and as a runner up.As a composite team, a “pink fusion crew“, made up of the Limburger Domdrachen and the Pink Pearls from Heilbronn, managed to reach second place at the dragonboat festival in Hannover with the local team...

Dragon Boat Terminology

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AmaBelles, Cape Town, South Africa

Submitted by Eileen van HeldenIn the good old, bad old days of the sailing ships and the spice island trade between Europe and the lands around the Indian Ocean, Cape Town was known as “the Tavern of the Seas” because everyone making the long journey round the tip of Africa would stop here for some R&R.This year we have seen something like this happening when several members of our worldwide sisterhood of BCS paddlers have contacted our team when they knew they were going to visit Cape T...

Dragon Boat Training Ruegen Germany

Ruegen/Germany, September 30 through October 02, 2023Submitted by Itti from Pink Patrol Bochum and Bianca from Pink Paddler DuerenOctober means PinktoberSo again, 55 paddlers from various German cities (Bochum, Datteln, Dueren, Hamburg, Hameln, Kassel, Luenen, Witten, and Wolfsburg) met in Dranske on the German island of Ruegen in the Baltic Sea for a training weekend. It was not only to raise awareness about breast cancer but to continue fighting against this disease in a sporting and entertain...

Why should a BCS team join the IBCPC

What's in it for us?We get along fine with our own organization, so what's different about IBCPC?How do we join?These are all great questions, and we have some GREAT answers!Be part of an International organization whose mandate is to encourage the development of BCS teams within the framework of participation and inclusiveness.Be part of an organization with a membership of over 320 BCS team, worldwide, representing approx. 15,000 breast cancer survivors globally.Be part of an organization who ...

Dragons Abreast Australia

25th AnniversaryDragons Abreast Australia has turned Breast Cancer Survivors into Breast Cancer thrivers for the past 25 years! The Australian network for Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat paddling is going from strength to strength- just like its members. The power of positivity, optimism, adventure and tenacity are very evident when our groups from all over Australia come together to paddle alongside each other, racing against Breast Cancer.Over the weekend from Friday 29th September to Sunda...

Dragons of Hope, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Submitted by Mary-Jean CormierFor Thunder Bay's Dragons of Hope, 'hope' truly is the key. As breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams, we all live in 'hope' that we will live another day, week, month or year, and of course, paddle another race. But in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, it's definitely a good thing that ‘hope’ seems to spring eternal.To start the Dragons of Hope season, the team has to 'hope' for an early thaw so they can start training by the end of May. They 'hope' each winter t...

EDBF European Championships 2023

Report from GermanySome news from Germany about the 19th ECCC in Ravenna, Italy. Two German teams met to compete with teams from all over Europe in the European Club Crew Championships in September. The Küsten Pinkies from Wilhelmshaven chose to charter a bus and drive South for about 20 hours including an unforeseen stopover in Ulm to have their bus fixed. This method of transportation made it possible to not only bring everyones´ paddles, but also the film crew who accompanied the team on it...

Dragons Abreast Canberra

Dragons Abreast Canberra has an annual event where they paddle from Grevilea Park where our boats are kept and where the new clubhouse for Dragon Boat ACT is currently under construction, to further down the lake, Lake Burley Griffin, to have a lovely wander through the flowers of Floriade. This annual event in Canberra wasn’t planted during Covid, so it’s great to see it back.I’m not able to paddle at the moment so I was able to meet up with everyone where they moored the boat so that I c...

Pink Paddlers Dueren, Germany

Dueren? Where is Dueren? We are based in the Western part of Germany, roughly in the area of Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle.And we had an amazing introduction to the pink dragonboat world on Saturday, August 26, 2023 at the races in Datteln which was also the Pink Germany Cup of DKV (German Canoe Association)!But let’s start from the beginning:In the weeks of May to June, most of us joined a training session for the very first time, some of us being faced with a fairly recent breast cancer diagno...

19th EDBF ECCC of Ravenna

Submitted by Lucia De Ranieri, IBCPC Vice PresidentSince I was appointed as a member of the EDBF Women in Sport Commission, I have been working closely with Paola Pochesci, chairperson of this Commission, and also with EDBF President Schermi, in order to strengthen the collaboration between the IBCPC and EDBF, seeking to promote an interconnection between the two organizations, and contribute to the empowerment of women and gender equality.The 19th EDBF European Club Crew Championship in Ravenna...

Pink Lionesses, Israel

Submitted by Orit Ziv-AckermanAs we are at the beginning of a new year, this is an opportunity for me to summarize the achievements of the organization "Pink Lionesses". The organization appointed two paddling groups of patients and people recovering from breast cancer and set for themselves a goal of healing body and soul.I am happy to announce that the organization gained additional and important recognition last week at the 28th Quality Conference at the medical center. This is the most signi...

Colombia 5th Anniversary

The Breast Cancer Survivors Dragon Boat Colombia Foundation celebrated its 5th anniversary on October 7th, 2023, under its motto: "Paddling for life, together, in the same direction" (¨Remando juntos por la vida, en la misma direccion¨).This event celebrated the lives of the women who, over the past five years, have preserved and advanced the legacy of its founder and eternal captain, the late Catalina Palacio Livingston. It was also a tribute to her memory and to her bold vision: to make a ho...

Dragonesse Avigliana

Submitted by Paola Zaccagni“It always seems impossible until it is realized”. This has been our motto during these months of non-stopping work to prepare for our Tenth Anniversary.Finally, our dream took place on October 6th, 7th and 8th, 2023. “The Dragonesse Avigliana” gave life to a fantastic pink party to celebrate their tenth anniversary.Many friends came from everywhere in Italy. People from Sardegna, Lazio, Veneto, and Lombardia regions, joined us to celebrate.Many people who beli...