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News from Argentina

Update from Lia del Prado, National Rep, ArgentinaI have so much good news to share with you!!!First of all, the very good news is that 5 new groups have already joined the IBCPC.The new teams are:1. Quilla Rosa. Santa Fe2. Asociación Civil Nahuel Rosa de Bote Dragón (Rio Negro)3. Guerreras Rosa del Viento (Santa Cruz)4. Mongüen Kawen Rosa (Rio Negro)5. Rosa del MarAnother wonderful news is the Invitation that has been sent to me from the Ministry of Social Development, Secretary of Sports an...

News from Brazil

Wow the growth in Brazil has been phenomenal!Cleusa Alonso the founder of Remadoras Rosa in Brazil (Pink Paddlers in Brazil) is determined., dedicated, supportive and very cheerful. She was one of the first Brazilian pink paddlers, even though she lived in Argentina. She has participated in several Breast Cancer dragon boat festivals in Latin and South America, and was the first National Representative for Brazil. She instigated the growth of breast cancer dragon boating in Brazil and is respons...

News from Colombia

From Ruth de Castro, Cartagena de Indias, ColombiaAlmost three years ago, on October 7th 2018, Catalina Palacio established Dragon Boat Colombia Foundation in Cartagena. The organization's purpose is to connect all women in Colombia that would like to change their lifestyle after surviving breast cancer. Paddling and sharing their stories went hand in hand. And as result, a big group of women were 'bitten by the dragon' and embarked on this adventure.Sadly in July 2019, we lost Catalina to breas...

News from Panama

Article from Floribeth de Finizio , President, Pink Warriors PanamaThe history of Breast Cancer Dragon boat paddling in Panama began in May 2019 when the organizers of the Panamanian Chinese Association decided to incorporate the BCS category in their 5th dragon boat festival in Panama, particularly as the team of Nahuel Rosa from Argentina was joining the event as guests.We formed as a team with 14 members and we competed against the Argentine and Colombian teams that came to our country in Jul...

News from South Africa

From Eileen van Helden, National Representative, South AfricaAmabele Belles, Cape Town, South AfricaWe BCS paddlers frequently use the term roller coaster to describe our journey, and in South Africa, and many other countries, it is a very appropriate term to describe the course of our paddling over the last 2 years.Since our last update to IBCPC in August 2020 when we were in hard Covid lockdown, a lot has happened, but much has stayed the same. On 3 October we were back to paddling after a 6-m...

Next IBCPC Participatory Festival - 2026

As we have missed a year due to COVID we thought it would be good to let you know that we will be working through the process of obtaining bids for the next IBCPC event in 2026.For any of you considering organising an IBCPC Festival, it is time to think about this now. We anticipate opening the bid process for the 2026 event on the 1st October 2022.You will be advised of the time period for submitting your bid along with timeframes around site visits, announcements etc.Prior to the opening of th...

Pink Power is Spreading

We are very pleased and proud to inform you that our Vice President, Lucia De Ranieri, has just been appointed as a director of the board of the Fondazione Careggi Onlus, the foundation has been established by the AOU Careggi Hospital of Florence, one of the most prestigious and biggest hospitals in Tuscany and in Italy.“When I was proposed to join the Foundation’ – says Lucia – “I felt deeply the honour of being a part of such a prestigious institution, and of course I accepted the ap...

Prevention Must Not Be Stopped

From Lucia De Ranieri, President of FIRENZE IN ROSA OnlusReport from Lucia on the work of FIRENZE IN ROSA Onlus, the organizers of the 2018 IBCPC festival in Florence and how they are gifting the surplus funds and also fundraising even more funds to support important breast cancer initiatives.Like many other diseases, breast cancer knows no limits, it does not respect distances and pandemics, and the promotion of prevention must not be stopped.With greater strength in this historical period of d...

The Race

by Jeannette Jan Labbe – Sistership CalgaryHer heart is pounding. Tears are glistening in her eyes. The dragon boats are jockeying for position at the start line of the race course. She breathes deeply while clutching her paddle tightly.The starter shouts, “Boat One, two strokes forward! Boat Five, hold! Boat Three, back up two seats!” She has too much time to think. Her thoughts drift to the beautiful daughter she has just buried who had died of the breast cancer that she has survived. In...

USA NR Update

We are very sad to officially let you know of the resignation of one of our US National Representatives. Cheryl Lychwick who manages our midwestern region will be leaving her IBCPC post at the end of August.Cheryl has been with the IBCPC for the past seven years and has been an excellent National Rep. She publishes an annual Newsletter for her teams and keeps in very good communication with them and with the IBCPC throughout the year.She will be sorely missed and has been willing to help find a ...

USDBF Breast Cancer Paddlers Committee

It’s been ten long years and finally Betty Solley’s perseverance has paid off. With the establishment of a Breast Cancer sub-committee on United States Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF). This is a step in the right direction as these kinds of sub-committees exist under national federations in New Zealand (since 2007), Canada (Linda Kuska heads this up) Australia (in process).Please let us know if your national federation also has a breast cancer paddler or special interest sub-committee....

"Why do breast cancer survivors dragon boat?"

Visiting Virtually with the Johns Hopkins University Dragon Boat TeamCOVID-19 has shut down or severely limited dragon boating throughout the world so it came as a delightful surprise when Betty Solley, IBCPC Membership Director, received an invitation from the Johns Hopkins University Dragon Boat Outreach Coordinator, Katie Li, to talk about breast cancer paddling in the world, and in the USA. Joined by our four IBCPC USA National Representatives: Linda Dyer, Cheryl Lychwick, JoAnn Moore and An...

A quick snippet from the Phillipines

Just to inform you of the status of Cebu Pink Paddlers' paddling activities.We still have not gotten "our feet wet." We are all itching to start training again, but there are still limitations specifically to: "Those with Immune deficiencies, co-morbidities, or other health risks."As Breast Cancer survivors, we fall under all of these headings. However, we are trying to see how we can get our supporters to start paddling again.Thank you again for your support. Looking forward to working closely ...

Letter from the President

June 2021Wow, what a very busy and exciting few months we have had since last writing to you all.Our follow up work on our strategic plan and targets of growth have been amazing. We have seen the development of the Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) headed by Tracy Sexton, medical radiology oncologist from Canada. This panel is very important as it is about “paddlers for paddlers” emphasising that “Exercise is Medicine”. All of the members are breast cancer survivors and all are paddlers, so w...

Meanwhile in New Zealand

In Christchurch paddlers from Abreast of Life Dragon boat team took part in the Cancer Society’s Relay for life. They called themselves Boobilicious Paddlers and helped fundraising efforts to raise over $100,000 for the Canterbury/Westland branch of the Cancer Society. The girls felt that it was their way of giving back to an organisation that had helped them all since their diagnosis.IBCPC President, Meri Gibson was the MC for the day and used the opportunity to recruit new paddlers for their...

News from Australia

This report from Sarah O’Reagan from Missabittattitti (MBT) on the Australia Coast to Coast Regatta held on the Sunshine Coast on the 7-9th May.This was the first major regatta in Australia post Covid and wow did the BCS teams turn out, there were representatives from 13 BCS teams there. Missabittattitti (MBT), what a weekend we had at the Coast to Coast. So much fun, so much heart. The chance to meet with BCS teams from all over Australia and to have Meri Gibson, the President of IBCPC come a...

News from Canada

From our newest Canadian National Rep, Colleen Ridley, she tells us what Chemo Savvy is up to.Good day Linda, sister paddlers, and IBCPC Teams!I am writing today to update you all, and to share the "Chemo Savvy Colour Wars Playbook" with other Prairie IBCPC Teams. In Winnipeg, winter keeps Chemo Savvy paddlers indoors, so we do group training and team building without the use of the dragon boats. Covid in 2020/21 has kept us further isolated and quarantined more than 90 of our members, providing...

News from Chile: Paddling for life is our motto

Thank you to Paula Farias from Chile for this lovely update on what is happening in your country:“Paddling for life is our motto”. We are from Chile, our country is rich in a variety of landscapes; we have desert, mountains, sea, lakes and rivers, and some of them are already being painted pink. In 2016, Monica Hernandez, canoeing teacher and coach, with a great sports career representing our country, learned about this modality of paddling in a talk by Dr. Don McKenzie in Brazil, and with t...

News from Egypt

The IBCPC President and Vice President conducted a fact-finding outreach clinic to Cairo, Egypt in November 2019. Many wonderful conversations took place and meetings were held with the Baheya Cancer Foundation to look at how to establish teams while ensuring their breast cancer “fighters” were kept safe. At the time there was much discussion in Egypt about who would be the official dragon boat representatives in the country. The article below was published to commemorate the establishment o...

News from Israel

The Drums on the dragon boats have been beating loudly in Israel as they go from strength to strength with building new teams.Dear Sisters of the Pink Forum I.B.C.P.C.My name is Orit Ziv. I am 62, mother of three and grandmother to six. I served in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) for 22 years as an Operational Officer. Following my release from the army I became the CEO of a recruitment agency for the following 17 years. I am married to Mickey, a former submarine officer in the Israeli Navy. We ...

News from Italy

And from our friends at Dragonette Torino ONLUSWe are herewith sending you article regarding the JUST THE WOMAN I AM. This event in the past 8 years, has supported University Cancer Research on breast cancer and is organized by CUS Torino (University Sport Center of Torino) in partnership with both the University of Study of Torino and the Politecnico di Torino.This year’s virtual edition, which took place between March 7 and 14th, consisted of every participant walking or running the usual 5K...

Sisters at Heart Celebration

Dragonheart Vermont’s Sisters at Heart (SAH) Celebration has been connecting Breast Cancer Survivors since 2007 on Vermont’s beautiful Lake Champlain. SAH was conceived by Dragonheart Vermont’s (DHVT) founder, Linda Dyer. Her dream of reaching out to other breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams in the United States and Canada resulted in our hosting an annual event that brought fellow survivors together for a special day of paddling, camaraderie, and joy. As our honored guests at our Lak...

Update from France

A paddling marathon to add to the wish list for 2021.Since all events were stopped for more than a year - and the situation is far from improving there has been little contact with other French teams - and it is difficult to imagine new teams forming up in these days.In Annecy we are still not allowed to paddle although in some other locations dragon boat activity is allowed for BC paddlers. Once the summer months come, we hope that there will be more activity.Genevieve tells us that in conjunct...

Update from Germany

Are you ready? Attention! Go! Ladybugs Germany celebrate 10-years-anniversaryFor 10 years, the Ladybugs (Lünen, Germany) have paddled together. In April 2011, Ladybugs met for the first time. With that, they became the third pink dragon boat group founded in Germany.Although we can't really celebrate due to Covid restrictions, we're happy we've reached this mile stone. Because – it's just a few years ago that we did not dare to hope even for our 5th anniversary.2014 our supporting canoe club ...

SPECIAL NEWSLETTER

SPECIAL NEWSLETTERWe have some exciting news for you regarding our ongoing restructure and development of new roles as part of our succession planning for the future of IBCPC.In establishing these new panels and portfolio’s we have strived to make these roles “By paddlers for paddlers”. We believe it is important that those who advise us, and you as members, are survivors, paddlers, and understand the limitations we face in our bodies, and in our minds.We have added more National...