UBC Thunder, UBC’s club dragon boating team, placed first in the Recreational A and B divisions in the 27th annual Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.
“It’s one of the biggest ones in North America. There were over 200 teams that came from all over the world,” said Kan Cheung, captain and president of the club.
The team is in its third year as an AMS club and trains year round for several races that take place in the summer months.
Dragon boating is a team sport where teams of 20 paddlers, along with a steerer and a caller, race several other teams in 200, 500 & 2,000 metre races. In Vancouver, the team trains, races and paddles out of False Creek Racing Canoe Club on False Creek by Science World. The team has paddlers from every faculty and several graduate students.
Teams must work together, paddling in absolute unison and timing strokes perfectly to win races. They win or lose as a team and symbolize this unity by having all members sign a hat that the caller wears during their final races.
“It’s a sport that focuses on teamwork versus other sports that may focus more on individual strength. We highly encourage teamwork,” said Cheung.
The team trains several days a week, with coaches Anthony Cao and Dave O’Connor, rain or shine. All of this training payed off at the Rio Tinto and the team hopes it will continue to pay off in the coming weeks as they are also competing in Harrison Dragon Boat Regatta on July 25 and Steveston Dragon Boat Festival August 23. The team competes in four races during the year and has already paddled the Tinto and FCRCC Spring Knockout Regatta.
While the team does race to win, they want everyone to come out and join the team.
“Doesn’t matter how fit [or] athletic you are. Dragon boating is a very inclusive sport.… Anyone is invited to dragon boat,” said Cheung.