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Adventure awaits - from Canada to Australia with love

From Tracy Sexton, MAP Chair, on her move from East Coast Canada to Australia.It is Feb 17, 2020, and I am standing in the Toronto airport holding back tears watching my adventurous daughter, Jennifer, go through security and out of sight. She is heading off to do her Master of Education in Melbourne, Australia and will be home in November after her first year is finished. Little did we know that 3 weeks later the world would shut down and 9 months would turn into 26 months. I blame Rowbust and ...

Argentina – Rosas del Plata

Submitted by Adriana Schneider August 2022My life was adrift. One year after a huge, unexpected tsunami had hit my peaceful life ferociously and turned my world upside down, I started looking for answers. Breast cancer diagnosis, surgery, treatment, survival. Six months had gone by, and I still could not find the meaning I was looking for.My name is Adriana, an ordinary woman, mother, professional, and breast cancer survivor. It still sounds awkward to me, but it´s true, I survived, I´m still ...

Brasil – An overview at Roama

3rd Northeast Carranca Boat FestivalSubmitted by Maria Alice Selicani PerfettoRoama is a word with an indigenous origin, which means remain upright´. Writing Roama back to front we read Amoar > love´. And it is not by chance that this word came up – Love – because this is what we noticed and felt in this 3rd edition of Roama Festival in Paulo Afonso, BA – which was held from 25th to 31st July.Paulo Afonso is a picturesque city and its major attraction is the famous and majestic São F...

Chile - Meeting with the Doctors

from Paula Farias IBCPC, National Representative CHILEAfter two very difficult years due to the pandemic, we were able to hold the first meeting of the Fortale-Senos Chile team with doctors and health personnel in Santiago. We had been planning this meeting for a long time, we wanted our doctors, surgeons, oncologists, kinesiologists, nurses to visit us, to meet us and of course to paddle together in our Dragon Boat. Each one of us knows the benefits that this sport has, both physically and psyc...

Club Crew World Championships

Sarasota, July 2022From Betty Solly, IBCPC Board member and representative at the IDBF Council meeting.I arrived in Tampa, Florida at 9:30 on Friday morning, July 22nd. Renting a car, I drove straight to Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, picked up my credentials (listed as a race official) which would allow me to enter the athletes’ village. I spent the morning touring the site, amazed at the growth and development of the facilities since my original trip to Sarasota in 2012. Back then, the I...

Croatia Update

Update on the Croatian newbie dragon boat ream development.Submitted by Dubravka (Buba) Karlovic-Babic, President, Dragon Boat Klub Zadar (DBKZ) Zagreb, CroatiaDear IBCPC members! I religiously follow all the BCS DB developments and events across the world! I have been impressed with so many teams celebrating life in the best possible way: paddling and having fun together! Well, our Croatian Dragonboat Klub Zadar (DBKZ) is doing the same, and over the past several months (since our first report ...

From the desk of the President

September 2022I wish to, on behalf of the IBCPC board and all our members across the globe, acknowledge the passing on the 12th of June 2022 in Vancouver, Canada of Jane Frost, our Founding and Past President (October 2010-retired July 2018). We are sure that many of you will have seen the notification of Jane’s passing on our Facebook page and will have followed the family’s messages along with the livestream of the memorial service for Jane. We have listened to the wishes of the family in ...

God Save the Queen

Submitted by Meri GibsonJust as we were getting ready to go to print the very sad news came through of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.Many of our member teams countries belong to both the realms and the Commonwealth, the loss of her Majesty will be keenly felt in many of these countries. Of our 36 member countries, ten of these belong to the Commonwealth. Those countries are Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Fiji, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, The Bahamas, and United Ki...

Greetings from Wonderful Copenhagen

Update of the last 5 months in DenmarkSubmitted by Helen Lexner-Munck, Country Liaison, DenmarkWhen we started our dragon boat season in April of this year, the weather was cold, grey, and very windy. The strong winds especially have been quite annoying and more intensive than normal. It has been a challenge for us when we were out in the harbour struggling with our very heavy, old boat, water traffic, often rain and strong winds.In June we joined the Hannover Dragon Boat event and had such a wo...

IBCPC President Meri Gibson’s report to IDBF Council

Sarasota, July 2022Report for 45th IDBF Council Meeting, 8th July 2022 on behalf of the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission (IBCPC)It gives me pleasure to present this report.I must first acknowledge the passing of Jane Frost the Founding President of the IBCPC. Jane had played an enormous role in the development of breast cancer dragon boating globally. She had been diagnosed with a secondary some years ago but chose to live her life fully in the ensuing years.As I sat and authored ...

Inaugural Bahamas Chinese Dragon Boat Festival

Goodman’s Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, Aug 20 and 21, 2022 from a Canadian perspectiveSubmitted by Linda Kuska, Team Captain Rowbust BCS Team, London, Ontario, Canada and IBCPC DirectorI had the pleasure of participating in this amazing adventure but with a double role. As a fairly new Director on the IBCPC Board, I started on the Board when the pandemic started so I have never had the opportunity to do any Outreach traveling and representing the IBCPC until this summer. And I was also with my Rowbus...

New Teams

From Betty SolleyWe welcome the following teams to our global family.Picam Dragon Boat Team, Barcelona, Spain...

Picam’s Dragons Team – Barcelona, Spain

Picam's Dragons is a team of Dragon Boat breast cancer survivors, created in February 2019 with great enthusiasm but with little success since the beginning, and it had very few participants, then with the arrival of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the training had to be suspended.After almost two years of forced break, the team resumed training in September 2021 in the port of Badalona, but some of the former participants did not return. There were only four left from the first team, so we needed to pus...

Rosa dos Ventos (Rose of the Winds)

In their own words we hear from one off our newest Brazilian teams.A strong, imposing name that means “safe direction for those who trust it” – that’s the spirit of our Dragon Boat paddling team in Londrina, Paraná (Brazil). The search for better quality of life was what motivated us to organize another project chapter of Dr. Don McKenzie, which also became a place for experience sharing amongst breast cancer survivors in Londrina.In 2020, after several lectures and meetings discussing ...

Stories from the UK

UK PaddlingSubmitted by Wendy GroseThe UK have had a difficult time getting back to normality after Covid, clubs are now back paddling but events in the UK have not been happening and some paddlers are still worried about travelling abroad.Wave Walkers based in London went to Venice to take part in the Vogalonga, the team included ladies from other BCS teams from across the UK.Pink Champagne also took a full boat to Venice to take part in the Venice festival on the Saturday and compete in the Vo...

Women as a Powerhouse

Submitted by Cosmina GrigoreAt Imunis, the belief is that a woman is a powerhouse. She rises constantly to her truths. We believe that as a woman heals herself, she becomes a healing woman. Womanhood after cancer is possible, it is proof that women are powerhouses. That women can rise together and as they do, they generate a force so beautiful, so powerful it makes them undeniable.Womanhood after cancer is the Imunis legacy. A unique program designed to help women in Romania see themselves diffe...

13th IDBF Club Crew

13th IDBF Club Crew World Dragon Boat Championships, Nathan Benderson Park (NBP), Sarasota, Florida.Competition days are: Tuesday 19th July - Sunday 24th July 2022We know this stunning venue very well having held our IBCPC Festival there in October 2014. NBP has become a world class facility and we know that all of the teams will have a fabulous time competing at this wonderful venue.IDBF Information bulletin number three is complimentary to information bulletin number one and two. These bulleti...

Argentina Today

We wish to thank our National Representative Lia del Prado for this incredibly comprehensive update of the teams in Argentina.Argentina is becoming beautifully PINK.The purpose of the IBCPC in Argentina is to promote and disseminate information about groups and sports or recreational rowing teams in Dragon Boat, or in any other kind of boat where we carry out the motto "Exercise is Medicine" (sport is health / medicine).The exponential growth of women with a history of Breast Cancer who continue...

EDBF CCWC Championships

Welcome to Lake Banyoles!Come join us and have fun with your crew family and friends!Club crews and individuals from anywhere in the world are welcome!Located in the province of Girona (northeastern Catalonia) Banyoles was the first destination certified in Sports Tourism by the Catalan Tourist Agency in 2003. This seal of quality recognises the tourist destination for offering high-quality resources and services aimed at elite, professional, amateur and tourist sportspeople who want to practise...

Facebook Update

Do you follow IBCPC in Facebook?The IBCPC Facebook page is yet another way to stay connected with all happenings across the globe, in relation to dragon boat paddling for breast cancer survivors.Next time you are on Facebook, make sure you get on to the IBCPC Facebook page, like it and follow all the wonderful news.Below are a few statistics on the IBCPC page:...

From the desk of the President

June 2022Well, it has certainly been a very busy few months since we last spoke to you, with lots of correspondence and meetings and in particular working towards ensuring that our National Representatives are well supported in their work.To this end we have been developing a series of power point supporting documents’ to be used in presentations. We have also developed a presentation that shows the structures that exist between ourselves, IDBF, the IDBF Continental Federations and the Nationa...

Germany update

Update from Patricia re all the new teams in Germany.Since 2013 I have been in charge of Pink Paddling out of DKV, the community has been growing and the interest in starting new teams is not diminishing. In 2015 I was able to create a first map, with 11 existing teams and 2 start-ups, today in 2022 we count 27 teams and 4 start-ups.Around 2011 there were the first two teams in Germany, one in Bochum and one in Schierstein. Through the work in the DKV, we know about all the pink teams and they a...

IDBF and Anti-Doping

Anti-Doping Newsletter from the Medical Commission Chair...

Israel Hip Hop Competition

What does hip hop have to do with dragon boat paddling, well as it turns out way more than you may think.The world is a very small place and it’s just gotten a little bit smaller as this story will help you to understand.On a regular zoom call between Meri Gibson and Orit Ziv-Ackerman (Israeli national representative) going through an update about what was happening in Israel, Orit mentioned to Meri that some professional dance instructors wanted to hold a hip-hop dance competition and that th...

Ka-Ora rises up...

Ka-Ora rises up and builds multiple teams.From Fabio Paiva, Founder of the Ka-Ora project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.I recently visited the wonderful girls from Argentina, at the meeting they had in Chocon. Then I also went to meet the girls from Bariloche. I was very well received by everyone, making me even more motivated to continue working hard on this project.We are ready to enroll Ka-Ora teams in the IBCPC. We have found our independence, as at first, we were linked to the Cancer Institute, but ...