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Paddlers Abreast CanadaFor the timetable of breast cancer events during the regatta check out the Paddlers Abreast Canada Facebook page.Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival July 2022...

From the desk of the President

March 2022It seems strange to be wishing you a happy New Year at this time but this is our first newsletter for 2022. So, on that basis I wish to extend to you all the very best wishes for 2022 and all that unfolds in it. The year certainly started off with a lot of changes globally and particularly in relation to the pandemic as we are slowly but surely starting to see the worlds borders reopen. Restrictions remain for many countries and it would seem that very few are immune whether it is self...

Greetings from Austria and Germany

By Svenja Franke-BruhnThe Vienna Pink Dragons are sending their best wishes for a great paddle season around the world. Of course, it is not easy everywhere. We are fully aware of that, coming slowly out of winter here and the Covid case numbers rising more than ever. We have had a few paddlers braving the cold and short days. However, spring seems not to be too far away and we had a great paddle in early February: no wind, hardly anyone else on the water and the sun shining bright. Great for th...

New Countries

We commend the work being done by Dubravka (Buba) Karlovic- Babic of Edmonton, Canada. She has been travelling to her native Croatia and working with local water sport residents to establish a breast cancer team there. She has even succeeded in securing a boat for this new team. We are working with Buba in planning an outreach clinic to Croatia to assist in building the sport there. We will also visit other countries in Europe that do not have breast cancer teams yet or who are in the throes of ...

New Teams

We would never have anticipated or comprehended that we would be helping to develop or welcome new teams to the IBCPC family during a pandemic, but we have. It is so exciting to see that regardless of this awful disruption to our lives that life continues and that we are at the forefront of sharing the knowledge of breast cancer dragon boat paddling and growing an awareness of our sport enforcing that our lives are all the better for it, proving that “EXERCISE IS MEDICINE”.We welcomed IBCPC ...

Order of Canada

We all know Dr. Don McKenzie, or Dr. Don as he is affectionately known to us for his work in research 27 years ago into why breast cancer survivors should participate in upper body exercise and how this led to the establishment of breast cancer dragon boat teams across the globe.We congratulated Don on our Facebook page as soon as we heard about his award being official, and we endorse those same congratulations again now. We had a little bit of inside running as our President, Meri Gibson was a...

The Association "U.G.O. - Unite Gareggiamo Ovunque Onlus" Padova, Italy

An update written by the UGO team.UGO - Unite Gareggiamo Ovunque (which means: United we Compete Everywhere), is a team born in June 2015 when a pilot project was launched within the Breast Unit of the IOV (Istituto Oncologico Veneto) on the initiative of a psycho- oncologist who strongly believed in the Canadian project of Dr. McKenzie. At the end of the 3-month experimentation, the 12 women who had been involved were so passionate about the sport itself that they decided to continue the experi...

Update from the European Dragon Boat Federation (EDBF)

At the last EDBF Ordinary Congress held on 28th August 2021 Claudio Schermi was re-elected as EDBF President for his 2nd term in office and Paola Pochesci was re-elected as chair holder of the EDBF Women in Sport Commission. As chair holder, this time, Paola was asked to present candidates for the position of members of the Commission.Paola noted that the Dragon boat activities are restarting after these pandemic times as is every sport all around the world, and as such she would like to give a ...

Update from the European Dragon Boat Federation (EDBF)

At the last EDBF Ordinary Congress held on 28th August 2021 Claudio Schermi was re-elected as EDBF President for his 2nd term in office and Paola Pochesci was re-elected as chair holder of the EDBF Women in Sport Commission. As chair holder, this time, Paola was asked to present candidates for the position of members of the Commission.Paola noted that the Dragon boat activities are restarting after these pandemic times as is every sport all around the world, and as such she would like to give a ...

A Historic Regatta Storica

September 5th 2021 will be a day I will never forget. It was the day my mother and I had a breakthrough heart-to-heart. It was the last day of my 30s. Above all, it was the day that enabled me to see how being part of the Vienna Pink Dragons has been instrumental in my mother’s physical and mental recovery from breast cancer and how it has positively affected our whole family.As I stood next to my father, watching my mother along with about 80 other Pinkie’s paddle down the Grand Canal in th...

A Memorable Flower Ceremony

Mark Warren is a dragon boat paddler from Washington, DC who, while attending the Eastern Regional Dragon Boat Association (ERDBA) festival two years ago, decided to stop and pay attention to the flower ceremony honoring and remembering breast cancer survivors. Mark was absolutely taken with the inspiring event.This year, Mark wrote to Great White North the Canadian festival producers to see whether or not it would be ok to play his bagpipes at the ceremony held recently at Lake Mercer in Prince...

And still a little more from the WonderBroads, Canada

Even COVID can’t stop the WonderBroads from paddling!As Spring 2021 rounded the corner, the WonderBroads were as excited as ever to be on the water; however, masks and social distancing played havoc with plans. Being a committed and creative group though, a solution was soon found - kayaking!Kayaking as a team was full of challenges and firsts. Not only did we need to learn the skills of gracefully getting in and out of a rocky kayak, but we also needed to be creative in developing drills that...

Argentina Update

Each year the Argentinian teams try to get together to share paddling experiences and camaraderie. The 4th National Rosas meeting is being planned for February 2022. The final date is yet to be determined.It will be known as “Chocon Rosa 2022”It is planned to have paddling activities, coaching clinics, water safety drills, awareness talks on the early detection of breast cancer and above all 4 days of fun and enjoyment.The previous Rosas meetings were:Neuquen, November 2017El Cochon, Neuquen...

Book: Internationally Abreast by Michelle Hanton & Eleanor Neilson

What an incredible journey it has been over the past 25 years since breast cancer dragon boating began in Vancouver, Canada in 1996. Dr Don McKenzie’s belief that breast cancer survivors SHOULD participate in vigorous upper body exercise threw conventional medical thinking on its ear and look where we are now.You can read about this amazing adventure in the book written by Michelle Hanton and Eleanor Nielson. This is a documented history from then till now, focusing primarily on the beginnings...

Breast Cancer Paddler Organisations

We always encourage the teams in any country to become a group, more power in a larger voice and at the very least, have representation on their regional and national associations/federations.Dragons Abreast AustraliaRemadoras Rosa BrazilArgentina in RosaNZDBA BC representativeDragon Boat Canada BC representativeUSDBF BC representativeThese are some of the organisations that we know about that represent breast-cancer paddlers not just at the team level but at a higher level. We strongly encourag...

Breast Cancer Survivors Find Strength

Sisterhood on Dragon BoatBy Susan Parrish for The ColumbianPaddlers find and create community on a team that practices at Vancouver Lake.When Tammy Michelson climbed onto a dragon boat for her first-ever race, she knew she was prepared.She had been practicing three times a week for a few months with her team, Catch-22, on Vancouver Lake. Despite describing herself as “not athletic” nor a joiner of sports teams, here she was poised on the narrow bench of a dragon boat, gripping her paddle and...

Dragon Dream Team, Akron, Ohio

Hits the airwaves on Good Morning AmericaTuesday, October 5, the US National television show Good Morning America featured one of the IBCPC teams from Akron, Ohio - Dragon Dream Team!The long segment was aired in celebration of the breast cancer month of October and showed this wonderful team of 88 women on and off the water. It was a beautiful and inspiring piece and we have attached the link below....

From Claire Fiaschi - On The Loire River Paddle

Article from Claire Fiaschi, our French National Representative on the Loire River paddle.De l'Allier à la Loire, United Ladies 2021United ladies 2021 is the challenge taken up by 31 paddlers from 5 to 8 August. This superb collective experience, which combines surpassing oneself, group cohesion and immersion in the heart of nature, took the paddlers from Vichy to La Charité sur Loire.It is impossible to paddle in dragon boats, as they are too rigid and fragile for the sandbanks of the Allier ...

From the WonderBroads, Canada

This year's CIBC Run for the Cure brought us together virtually and the feeling of community was stronger than ever as thousands of Canadians across the country united in support of the breast cancer cause. Over $9 million was raised Canada-wide for Canadians impacted by breast cancer!The WonderBroads of Windsor Essex participated in this year’s CIBC Run for the Cure. Our team earmarked their fundraising to go to Metastatic Breast Cancer research.A number of our teammates gathered to walk toge...

Letter from the President

December 2021It is hard to believe that we are already in December, where has the year gone. It has been one filled with so many challenges for so many of you in terms of how your country managed COVID and whether you were able to get out on the water. I wonder what 2022 will bring us as more countries start to open up and travel becomes a reality, albeit in a very different way to what we have previously experienced.Christmas will soon be with us and it will be an opportunity (hopefully) for yo...

News from Austria and Germany

by Svenja Franke-Bruhn, Country Liaison Austria and National representative GermanyVienna Pink Dragons, AustriaThe Vienna Pink Dragons enjoyed a busy sunny summer not only with regularly training on the Alte Donau and a number of full moon paddles, but also a fun Muddy Dragon Day held at the club including many games and of course good food to share. We all thoroughly enjoyed these get-togethers, especially after the difficulties of the last year and the many COVID restrictions....

Paddling with Hope: Strength and Sisterhood in a Dragon Boat

We started our 15th year in 2021 thinking we would not be able to get back in the boats for the second year in a row due to COVID. Yet, we ended the paddling season, 88 members strong, with an awesome opportunity to kick-off Breast Cancer Awareness Month with breast cancer survivors and fellow dragon boat paddlers across the nation.Our team, The Dragon Dream Team of Akron, Ohio is so proud and honored to have represented these two communities in a Good Morning America (GMA) segment on October 5,...

Profile from Tarshia Boutte, USA National Representative

Native Houstonian and invasive ductile carcinoma survivor, Tarshia Boutte, is the team captain of Texas’ first breast cancer survivor dragon boat team, Pink Phurree . At 5’11” tall, Tarshia was built for the engine room. You can often hear her voice from the shoreline as she motivates her Pink Phurree crew mates to the finish line. Off the water, Tarshia works as a corporate trainer, leads a water exercise class at her gym, serves in her church’s children’s ministry, and loves to embar...

The Cancer Journey

Judy Via Cava is a member of the Machestic Dragons, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. She is also a Cancer coach. What may you ask is that???? Well, we suggest you check out the website: www.thecancerjourney.com.The Cancer Journey coaches intend to have some very special sessions for our paddlers at the 2023 festival but, in the interim, if you would like to check out what they do and you may be interested in becoming a coach then we suggest you join the free class, "A Taste of Cancer Journey Coaching...

Vaccine Policy Statement from the IBCPC Medical Adivsory Panel (MAP)

The Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) of the IBCPC strongly encourages breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams to create their own individual vaccine policies. These policies should be in accordance with your local public health guidelines and any national dragon boat guidelines that may exist. Links to national/regional dragon boat vaccine policies can be found below.Any policy created should include clear expectations for individual members of a team both on and off the water and for both indoor a...