Back to Blog

Welcome to Marion Egan

We extend a warm and hearty welcome to Marion as the new IBCPC National Representative to Ireland.Bio of Marion EganMarion was born and raised in Dublin, where she now lives and is married to Alan. They have 3 children, Sean, Heather and Aaron and life is very busy, but fun.Marion was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2013 and joined Ireland’s first dragon boat club, Plurabelle Paddlers in 2016 where she found a love for exercise, sport and competition that she never knew she had. Fo...

Worldwide Exchange

Submitted by Matilde Yahni, National Representative, ArgentinaThe world is small when it comes to pink sisterhood. Thanks to networks provided by IBCPC, the ethos that “Exercise is Medicine” and “you should be able to join a boat and paddle anywhere in the world” came true!!!!Lucia, an Italian pink paddler from the Roman team PAGAIE ROSA, was visiting an Italian friend who lives Buenos Aires. She contacted the local team and two days later she was on our dragon boat paddling with us, Ros...

1st International Brazilian Dragon Boat Festival

Breast Cancer Survivors – Brasília – Brazil!!Submitted by Maria Alice Selicani PerfettoParanoá Lake – DF – Brasília – Brazil, was dressed in pink! Pink was blended with the water and in the premises of Associação dos Servidores da Câmara dos Deputados (ASCADE) club – during the 1st International Brazilian Dragon Boat Festival – BCS (Breast cancer survivors) that took place from October 26th to 29th, 2022.The event was oorganized by Cleusa Alonso –Remadoras Rosa do Brasil, a...

2023 World Dragon Boat Cup

Submitted by Meri GibsonIt was after much consultation and with some regret that the IDBF Council agreed to move the World Dragon Boat Racing Championship from Hong Kong to Pattaya, Thailand in 2023. Final date to be confirmed. Please keep an eye out on the IDBF website if this is interest to your country to attend.Racing will be for national representative teams only, not club crews. We know that many of our breast cancer survivor paddlers who have chosen to become competitive paddlers will be ...

4th National Rosas Gathering, Argentina

Submitted by Matilde YahniThe fourth gathering of the Argentinian pink paddlers took place in San Ignacio, Misiones, located in northeast Argentina. San Ignacio is a small city nestled in the forest 240 km away from the world famous Iguazú Falls.Fundación Azaleas del Parana organized the event, hosted 250 pink paddlers from all over Argentina, and made us feel as like very special guests. On the first day we paddled in kayaks on the Parana River (having a dragon boat is a dream to fulfil). Sev...

A Silver Rose Among the Roses of the Sea, Argentina

Submitted by Laura Griselda GarciaMy name is Laura Griselda Garcia and I´ve been a member of Rosas del Plata since 2019. But this story is not about my team …400 km away from Buenos Aires live the Rosas del Mar (Roses of the Sea). This group of resilient women who have gone through breast cancer decided some time ago to get closer and dare to paddle in a Dragon Boat.But at first, they paddled in other types of boats…, the Dragon Boat was waiting. It is not common or easy in Argentina to be ...

Croatia - Country Liaison

Introducing out new representative for CroatiaSubmitted by Buba BabichI am a 67-year young retiree who, since 2010 has been passionately committed to the sport of dragon boating! In 1994, my family and I arrived in Canada as refugees from Bosnia to start a happy, safe, and prosperous new life!My first BC diagnosis was in 2008, and after two lumpectomy surgeries and radiation in 2009, I joined Breast Friends Dragon Boat Racing Team Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) in 2010. My life changed after that, a...

From Breasts Ahoy, Canada

Submitted by Patti FlecknellHere is a recap of 2022 for the Breasts Ahoy Dragon Boat Team from Saint John, NB Canada.Breasts Ahoy has a 10/49 fundraiser that we do throughout the year, with great success, we would suggest this to all teams to do to raise money.April/May we do poolside training at the Aquatic Centre. Boats came out of storage end of May. It was an unbelievable feeling. June through to first week of October, we paddle every Tuesday and Thursday evening.June, we had a few paddlers ...

From the Desk of the President

From the Desk of Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.It is so hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the year and before we know it Christmas will be with us and we will be into 2023 which will bring the long awaited and much anticipated IBCPC participatory Dragon boat Festival to New Zealand in April 2023. We’ve been really thrilled by the numbers that are coming to New Zealand not only are they coming for the festival, but many are also coming to tick a major item of their bucket l...

From the WonderBroads, Ontario, Canada

Submitted by Peggy Hurley, IBCPC National RepresentativeThe WonderBroads of Windsor Essex County, Ontario Canada were thrilled to be back together on the water 2022!Our travels consisted of Ontario regattas as well as Vancouver, BC, where this wonderful wave of BCS dragon boating all began.We will be celebrating our 20th Season next year, and invite all of the beautiful people and teams we have met along the way to join us in a special celebration.Details to follow! Contact us www.wonderbroads.o...

Irish BCS Paddling Season

A summary of the Irish season submitted by Fiona SlevinAs 2022 is ending, it is a suitable time to reflect on the year, and a wonderful year of paddling it was too!The removal of pandemic restrictions resulted in a very joyful return to full paddling in Ireland.The sport of Dragon boat racing is thriving on the island of Ireland. There are currently 20 Dragon boat clubs. Of these, one is fully BCS, seventeen have a combination of BCS survivors, supporters, other cancer survivors and family and f...

Italy 2022 Season

A general overview of the 2022 season in ItalySubmitted by Lucia de RanieriThe dragon boat movement In Italy is about to end for 2022 with a great vivacity, the desire to restart after the pandemic was a decisive jump to realize several initiatives and events.The main events of the year have been the IV edition of the Lilt National Trophy at the end of May in Sabaudia, organized by the "Donna Più LILT Latina" team which saw the participation of 8 BCP crews; and the 10th anniversary of the Drago...

Kathy Levy, Coach of Knot Abreast, Canada

Kathy Levy, coach of Knot Abreast inducted into Hamilton, Ontario, Sports Hall of fame. The article below was written as part of Kathy’s induction.Congratulations Kathy on all you have done for the sport of breast cancer dragon boat paddling.There is a great YouTube video of Kathy.In 1998 Kathy Levy took a leap of faith. A breast cancer survivor herself Levy borrowed a Dragon Boat from the local Hamilton area Chinese community.With it she founded the Knot A Breast Dragon Boat racing team for c...

News from Chile

Submitted by Paula Farias NR ChileThis year we received a great invitation to participate in the Dragon Boat Festival for women breast cancer survivors to be held in Brasilia. We immediately began to organize ourselves to be able to attend, each team worked hard to obtain the necessary economic resources for the trip, as this became a dream that we had to fulfill.For the teams Fortale-Senos Chile and Fortalesenos Araucanía it was our second international Festival, and for Remos Arriba, Fortales...

News from Seincr’eau

Submitted by Anne Amrie Coutuire, Capitane et responsible pour Seincr’eauBonjour, pour nous ce fut une année de transition après la COVID. Nous nous sommes entrainé tout de même 2 fois semaine. Nous avons fait 4 compétitions dont la première édition de la nouvelle division des survivantes du cancer du sein à Vancouver dans le cadre de la compétition du Concord Pacific Dragon Boat où 19 équipes de survivantes étaient inscrites et nous avons également fait le Championnat Canadien qu...

News from Vise-À-Vie de Québec

C'est avec grand enthousiasme que l'équipe de bateau dragon Vise-À-Vie a débuté ses entraînements en mai dernier. Quel bonheur de se retrouver sur le Lac St-Augustin même si nous avons dû à quelques reprises affronter les intempéries d'un été 2022 marqué par les soirs d'orages. Fort heureusement, nos entraînements "en présentiel" ont été hauts en couleur! Départ en force, rythme contrôlé, ténacité en fin de course, ont été nos facteurs de succès de la saison. Un été mag...

Outreach 2023

Submitted by Meri GibsonThe funds that we determine and receive from the levy that is payable from the IBCPC festivals is how we fund our outreach programs.We have substantial funds sitting in the Canadian Society bank account that are for this exact purpose and we hope to undertake more outreach clinics in 2023. These will most likely take place in the third and fourth quarters of 2023.Even though Europe has been established for some years there are many countries that still do not have breast ...

Paddling Against Cancer, Guatemala

Submitted by María José Girón Blanco de FontI was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on April 12th, 2021. I then went through chemotherapy for four and a half months. Then I moved to Houston where I lived with my family for five and a half months.As a patient at MD Anderson Cancer Center, I went through surgery and radiation. Right now, I am still on medications, traveling back and forth to Houston every two months for my checkup labs and follow- up appointments.While living in Houston I joined a s...

Picam's on their experience at Banyoles, Spain

Submitted by Beatriz Serrano.If only a year ago someone had told us that we were going to participate in a European Dragon Boat championship as part of a team of breast cancer women survivors, I think all of us would have laughed in disbelief.Because, honestly, what we are experiencing today is like a dream, but one of those dreams that we could never imagine, because a year ago many of us did not even know that the Dragon Boat existed.Have you imagined yourselves practicing canoeing, rowing, or...

Rowbust dragon boat crew has made waves around the world

We found this article below online. The article has great comments from our IBCPC director Linda Kuska.We really value the comment about having been around for 20 years and that Rowbust see it as their “duty” to give back globally by participating in and encouraging outreach.Published Oct 9th and written by Jason Winders.For more than two decades, London’s all-breast cancer survivor crew has paved the way for acceptance — and excellence — at the highest levels of the sport.They don’t...

The Dragons are back in town! Germany

Submitted by Christina BremnerThe song, “the dragons are back in town” hadn´t been heard in Hannover, Germany, for 2 years. Due to the Corona pandemic, the dragon boat festival had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 – so the dragon boat family was happy to celebrate the return of the dragons for the 26th edition on Pentecost weekend, 2022! The most exciting part of the ‘Drachenbootfestival Hannover’ was a premiere: for the first time ever, there was a pink cup! The Pink Dragonistas Hann...

The Phenix Are Rising, Canada

Submitted by Line Hamel, Capitaine des PhénixLes Phénix de la Rose des ventsL’an 2022 marque notre 20ième anniversaire. À cette occasion, nous avons opté pour rajeunir notre image. Un nouveau logo a été conçu et la garde-robe des Phénix a été complètement renouvelée.C’est le 4 juin que nous avons souligné cet événement avec nos familles, des anciennes pagayeuses et les gens de notre communauté. Cette journée demeurera un moment marquant dans la mémoire des Phénix.L’équ...

Updates from Germany & Austria

Submitted by Svenja Franke-Bruhn, NR Austria/GermanyThe pink paddling teams in the German speaking countries continue to thrive and are very active this year, almost back to how it was in the years before the pandemic.News from AustriaI was very excited to paddle again in August on the next section of the Loire between Roanne and Nevers, meeting many old friends and making new ones with an international attendance.Quite a few paddlers (and supporters!) attending this Loire Adventure/United Ladie...

14th EDBF Championships

EDBF European Nations Dragon Boat Championships turns PINK once again! Banyoles Lake, Banyoles, Girona, Spain 31st August - 4th September 2022Submitted by Lucia de RanieriThe 14th edition of this event took place a few days ago in the wonderful setting of Banyoles Lake in Banyoles, Spain. I was lucky to spend three beautiful days there with our IBCPC President, Meri Gibson, and Paola Pochesci, chair of the EDBF Women in Sport Commission, of which I have the honor to be a part.For me attending th...

1st Bahamas Festival August 2022

From a Pink Warriors, Panama perspectiveSubmited by Ma. Betania CastroPink Warriors travel to Bahamas.After 4 months of intense preparation, perfecting our technique, tireless strength practices and polishing strategies, the day had finally come. We had accepted the challenge, a new competition, BAHAMAS, a dream place to shine. Together 14 members of the team boarded the flight from Panamá to Nassau accepting the challenge, with toned energies and overflowing with nerves and emotion, but happy ...