The drumming and cries of dragon boaters echoed across Victoria’s Upper Harbour as the annual Vancouver Island Dragon Boat Festival returned, where 36 teams from the Island and beyond faced off in a variety of races.
The two-day event, held Aug. 23–24 and organized by the Fairway Gorge Paddling Club, drew about 1,000 athletes from across the Pacific Northwest — as far south as California, north to Edmonton and east to Toronto.
“They’ve come from far and wide to race an end-of-season showcase of dragon boat skill,” said race director Erik Ages. “We call it a pentathlon because it has five formats that we condense into one recreational weekend of racing.”
Crews competed in 500-, 200- and 100-metre sprints, a 1,500-metre endurance race, and 500-metre flag relays.
Races kicked off Saturday at 8 a.m. with sprints and knockout heats, before Sunday brought the endurance oval, women’s and mixed flag relays, and grand finals in the afternoon.
For Ages, the event also highlighted the sport’s growing popularity in the Pacific Northwest. Not only can athletes train year-round thanks to mild winters, but he said the true beauty of dragon boating lies in its inclusivity.
“The biggest (demographic) growth in terms of team sport and solo sport on the water are people over 50,” he said. “The oldest and older populations are the ones that are growing the fastest in Western Canada.”
Whereas many sports lose practitioners over the years, paddle sports only gain some, as well as offering folks a sense of community, purpose, and a way to get active.
“For recreational athletes, many of whom are incredibly fast, this is a very accessible sport and it gives average athletes, meaning people who don’t train professionally, a chance to experience the valour which I think is a lost feeling for people who don’t necessarily have opportunities to participate in team sport.”
Having worked with paddlers of all ages and backgrounds, Ages said he recently coached a team in their 70s and 80s who put up great results, showing it’s never too late to take up dragon boating.
“They held their own and they feel the same sense of being heroes that people in their teens and twenties feel,” he said.
