Record attendance at UBC centennial Day of the Longboat

Ben Gardiner
author
Published on Oct. 5, 2015
Day of the Longboat continues UBC Recreation's trend of smashing attendance records.

Quick Facts

Organizer: UBC Recreation

Location: Jericho Sailing Club

Number of years running: 37

Number of teams: 347 student teams + alumni, faculty and corporate heats

Number of participants: 3500

Total individual interacting with Longboat: approx. 4000

Number of volunteers: 100

Size of organizing team: 2 directors, 9 assistant directors, 1 full-time staff member

Average mean temperature in Vancouver over the weekend: 13.2 degrees celsius

The 2015 edition of UBC Recreation’s Day of the Longboat event saw an all-time attendance record buoyed by the commendable efforts of its passionate organizing team. 

Despite the somewhat diminished participation over the past two years largely due to adverse weather conditions, figures over the October 3-4 weekend surpassed all previous records for individual participation and team registration. Longboat has steadily grown to become UBC Recreation’s largest event since its inception 37 years ago where participating teams built their own longboats to navigate at sea. This past weekend, the world’s largest voyageur event hosted 347 student teams and over 3,500 total participants.

Notably, organizers indicated that the "Just For Fun" classification had a significant boost in registration over previous years. This reflects UBC Recreation’s recent strategy shift to encourage active living on campus in addition to promoting purely competitive events. A shorter route for racers as well as a relaxed competitive atmosphere provided an ideal setting for casual teams hoping to partake in the signature UBC event.

    • Featured in Longboat 2015 was a corporate heat in addition to the student, faculty and alumni races. Georgia Sakurai, Sponsorship Assistant Director, explained that, “Day of the Longboat offers a team-building [opportunity] for local companies. It’s a chance for external organizations to see the events that students are involved with and engage with the UBC community.” Organizers plan to build upon the corporate heat in future events which was considered a benchmark for success this year.

    Other changes this year included a weekend-long shuttle service transporting participants between the Jericho Sailing Club and the Student Recreation Centre on campus. Uncharacteristically sunny skies and pleasant 13 to 16 degree weather all weekend also encouraged students to get down to the shores of Jericho Beach and cheer on friends paddling for the prized Longboat championship T-shirts.

    To accommodate hundreds of participant teams, tremendous planning and organizing was required by UBC Recreation. The largest Longboat organizing team to date was comprised of over 100 volunteers led by two directors and nine assistant directors. 

    Directors Stefanie Suderman and Lauren La Prairie planned for months prior to Longboat weekend including undertaking a 40 hour week workload since September. Suderman explained that her group wanted to take every different aspect of the event to the next level with many organizing team members staying at Jericho from 5 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

    "Everything comes down to our participants and ensuring they have a great experience. See[ing] everyone at the end of the day and … living in the moment, that’s when we can see the fruits of our labour," said Assistant Director Riley Stone.

    Interestingly, the event this year had a distinct aspect of school spirit tied in. This was possibly related to the buzz around UBC’s Centennial celebrations. As many teams donned the blue and gold T-Bird logo on squad uniforms, organizers and volunteers wanted to connect with fellow students and promote school spirit in every capacity they could. 

    Day of the Longboat continues to be a defining memory of the UBC experience for thousands of students each year. Key developments initiated by this year’s organizing team created a record-breaking event for all UBC students to be proud of — especially as centennial celebrations continues on campus.