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Amazing Donation for Metastatic Research

Respectfully shared by Meri Gibson.  As we know many of our cohort of breast cancer survivor paddlers become metastatic and we agree with the comments from Elaine Saverin that they are often left on the margins of treatment.This donation will make an amazing difference in research and modalities of care. Please do read it as it is a wonderful donation and article.Read here: AMAZING DONATION...

Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast

This year marked a special milestone for Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast in Queensland Australia - 20 years of paddling with heart, friendship, and purpose.To celebrate two decades of paddling, members past and present came together over a memorable anniversary weekend that perfectly captured the spirit of our club - camaraderie, colour, and community.The festivities began with a 20th Anniversary Dinner Dance, where the room shimmered in shades of pink. There was laughter, dancing, and plenty of ...

Pink Paddle Power

Submitted by Sharon Cooper, DAA Board Director.  More than 350 paddlers, supporters and friends gathered on the Gold Coast, Queensland, for Pink Paddle Power 2025, celebrating survivorship, connection and community. From the Meet and Flamingle to the Regatta, Social Paddle, Gala Dinner and Convention, the weekend was full of pink feathers, joy and inspiration. Hosted by Dragons Abreast Gold Coast, Dragons Abreast Wollumbin and Dragons Abreast Australia, the weekend sought to connect pa...

Busting Out Ottawa

Submitted by Jennifer Greene.  From paddles to petals, our team made waves on land! Busting Out paddlers surprised teammate Nikki Bedard with a wedding-day paddle arch that turned heads in downtown Ottawa.On Saturday, September 20, 2025, in downtown Ottawa, 25 members of the Busting Out Ottawa Dragon Boat Club gathered outside the Lord Elgin hotel to create a stunning paddle arch in celebration of teammate Nikki Bedard’s wedding at the National Arts Centre across the street. The...

Vienna Pink Dragons

Submitted by Svenja Franke-Bruhn.   Founding President Vienna Pink Dragons and IBCPC Country Liaison Austria.  When I arrived in Vienna in 2014 with the idea of founding a breast cancer paddling team, I had no clue of what the coming years would bring, full of fun and newfound friends, but equally challenging and demanding a lot of patience and perseverance. Having been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in New Zealand in 2011 and after embracing dragon boat paddling in Sy...

News from Germany - Pink Power

September 26 marks an important date for breast cancer paddling in Germany, as the film “Pink Power” premiered in a special movie theatre, the Kulturbrauerei (a historic brewery used as a cultural center nowadays) in Berlin – a truly powerful story of two strong women and their team, the Küsten Pinkies from Wilhelmshaven.Jasmin and Konni who both live in the far North of Germany volunteered to open their very different lives and stories to the young directors and producers Chiara and Mari...

Survivors Abreast Peterborough

On October 21st, 2025, Survivors Abreast Peterborough and the Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival planning committee were recognized by the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation (PRHCF) for our philanthropical efforts and community spirit. In 2022, the team and the festival planning committee, pledged to raise 500 thousand dollars over 3 years in support of the PRHCF reImagine Health Care campaign, specifically, in the area of cancer care. It was a milestone we weren’t sure we ...

Letter to IDBF re Festival Timing

An open letter to the IDBF regarding concerns about the timing of the Club Crew World Championships in 2026.This overlaps with the dates of our 2026 IBCPC Participatory Dragon Boat Festival and poses significant challenges for our members.Please download below to read:...

Continents Collaborating

Submitted by JoAnn Moore, IBCPC Southeast USA Representative.  We caught a rare glimpse of three of our IBCPC Representatives, JoAnn Moore of North America, Wendy Grose of Northern Europe, and Orit Ziv-Ackerman of Southeast Asia brainstorming at the Cyprus International Dragon Boat Regatta, October 11-12, 2025...

Congratulations

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  The board of IBCPC wishes to congratulate IDBF President Claudio Schermi on his election to the board of AIMS. This is a four year term and we are sure that in his term Claudio will be campaigning for the inclusion of Dragon boating as an Olympic sport. IDBF NEWS RELEASE:IDBF President Claudio Schermi Elected to AIMS Council for a Four-Year TermOctober 30, 2025News Release (#2025-14)Lausanne, Switzerland – 27 October 2025. The A...

Survivors in Sync

Submitted by: JoAnn Moore, IBCPC Southeast USA Representative.  The USA team Survivors in Sync from Sarasota Florida took GOLD in the Club Crew National Championships this October. They will now move onto World Competition in Taiwan in September 2026. These women worked hard all year and will make the USA proud. Wish them luck!...

IBCPC Merchandise

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  IBCPC is thrilled to announce our merchandise partnership with Regatta Sport.Regatta Sport Is a Canadian company who manufacture their merchandise in Canada. They will be well known to many of you, particularly in the northern hemisphere, as they have produced clothing merchandise for the USA national team, the Canadian national team, and were also the merchandise partner at the recent IDBF world championships in Brandenburg Germany.&n...

IBCPC Board's Year In Review

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  Over the past year or so, the IBCPC board has undertaken significant efforts to review and enhance its foundational documents and strategic plans. This comprehensive review was initiated from the 2023 Congress and has continued to shape the board's direction and priorities.Review of the Constitution and By-LawOne of the primary focuses of the IBCPC board this year has been the meticulous review of the layout of the constitution and by-...

West Island Dragons

This month, the West Island Dragons hosted our 5th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Vendor Fair, and what a success it was!A huge thank you goes out to our teammate and EC Sponsorship Director, Angela Iliopoulos, who once again led all the organizing and vendor coordination. Thanks to her experience and dedication, this event continues to grow every year and has become a highlight for both our team and the community.When we first launched the fair, funds were shared between local organizations and...

Pink Paddlers Koblenz

Submitted by Pink Paddlers Koblenz and Karina Schuh.  This year, we created a very special campaign during Pinktober in Koblenz: “Pink Paddler – A Photo Campaign about Strength, Solidarity and Life after Breast Cancer.”It is more than a photoshoot – it is a statement. A statement for life, for resilience, for hope, for strength, for femininity, and for life after a breast cancer diagnosis.On September 18, 2025 we met at our paddling area: ten strong women from the team Pink Pad...

Chile Dragon Boat Festival

Submitted by Paula Farías.  We have experienced in Chile a great celebration of companionship, teamwork, respect, humility, generosity, and above all, sisterhood.  The 3rd Dragon Boat Festival was organized by the Fortale-Senos Chile team in alliance with the Confucius Institute of Santo Tomás University and the Embassy of China in Chile.At the Carén Park lagoon, for the first time, we brought together 300 breast cancer survivors who love this sport and have made it an importan...

Editor's Report

Submitted by Louise Granahan.  Well, it certainly has been a busy time for breast cancer paddlers around the world!You will notice that there are a few articles about the World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. This is the first time that breast cancer teams have been able to participate in this event, mainly due to the tireless efforts of Meri Gibson.Just a few weeks prior to Worlds, the Pan Ams took place in Montreal, Québec, Canada. I was so fortunate to be able to attend this...

More News from Germany

This year´s German National Championships near Halle an der Saale felt very special for many BCP, as the German breast cancer paddling community is growing but also coming closer together! In June, teams from Berlin, Halle/Leipzig, Hannover and Wolfsburg met on the Osendorfer Lake to paddle for the German trophys. Many also came to prepare for the 17th IDBF World Championships scheduled less than a month later. While competing on the water, the teams met after the races celebrating life with ...

Aix-les-Bains

The Dragon Boat Festival 2025 from 27-29 June 2025 was not just the test run for the big IBCPC Festival 2026 in this location – but also the very first appearance of the brand new Pink Ribbonettes Team from Belgium in competition mood. The Belgium breast cancer paddlers merged forces and will participate in the Festival 2026 together with some friends from France.And what a weekend it was! Within one race day, the paddlers grew from a “group of paddlers” to a real team. Already after the f...

Dragons on the Falkirk Wheel

Submitted by Pauline Doyle.  After months of planning and permission requests, the date finally arrived when Port Edgar Dragons could move their small boat Emma to the Falkirk Wheel Basin in readiness for the challenge to paddle from The Falkirk Wheel to Fountainbridge and back to Bridge 8, a total of 35 miles or 56.3kms. Taking in the Falkirk wheel, the only rotating lift bridge in the world, two locks, two tunnels including the Falkirk Tunnel the longest canal tunnel in Scotland, bu...

2025 Breast Cancer Flower Ceremony

Submitted by Brenda Hochachka.  Welcome to Vancouver and to the waters of False Creek where we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Abreast In A Boat.  The story of the flower ceremony began in 1996 at our inaugural race.Before leaving for that 1st race, I noticed that a 20- year- old climbing rose bush in my garden was covered with small fuchsia flowers, enough for each paddler on our boat.  As we pulled toward the dock after our race, there was a pause in our paddling and our ...

Dragonboat Festival Hanover 2025

Submitted by Christina (Pink Dragonistas Hannover).  This year Hannover welcomed 10 breast cancer standard boat teams for the fourth breast cancer cup as part of the 29th festival edition of our ,Drachenbootfestival Hannover` on Pentecost weekend. Again, we welcomed mostly BCP composite teams from different German clubs – with some paddlers experiencing their first regatta ever -, but also a Pink Royals team & friends formed of paddlers from Great Britain, but also Austria, Belgi...

Pan Am Club Crew Championships

Submitted by Louise Granahan.  “Hi, I’m 11.”“Hi, I’m 61.”That’s how Rosalie (a pseudonym) and I introduced ourselves. Rosalie is the delightful daughter of one of the amazing Vise-à-Vie paddlers that I met in Montréal at the Pan Am Club Crew Championships in July, 2025. Rosalie and I had some great conversations in the team tent, and I really enjoyed her company.When I found out that my home team wasn’t going to attend the Pan Ams in Montréal, I was heartbroken. But ...

17th IDBF World Dragon Boat Championships

Submitted by Linda Kuska.   Look at how far the Breast Cancer Paddler (BCP) Division has come since it started 30 years ago in Vancouver! When I started dragon boating in 1999, we were widely accepted in community festivals but now BCP teams and paddlers can be whatever they want to be and be accepted in all levels of competition. On December 21, 2024, IDBF sent out Bulletin 1 in preparation for the 17th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Brandenburg, Germany and BCP was ...

Abreast In A Boat Marks 30 Years

Submitted by Debbie Mills, Communications Chair, Abreast In A Boat.  A Milestone EventAbreast In A Boat turns 30!  To celebrate this milestone, we invited the breast cancer paddling world to Vancouver, where it all began.  And came they did!  We welcomed 28 teams from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Latin America to join our 6 crews as well as many alumni and supporters.It was a memorable weekend packed with camaraderie, competition and reflection.�...