Dragon Fever
Women in Water have the traditional honour of christening the club’s third dragonboat, purchased entirely with members fundraising.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: June 30, 2009 12:42 PM
The Fort Langley Canoe Club christened their new Dragon Boat with the traditional bottle of champagne being smashed on the Dragon’s head.
The honours were given to six members of “Women on Water” - the first Dragon Boat team in the club.
”It is amazing how much the club has grown in such a short time. Only six years ago, our first Dragon Boat team had to train in voyageur canoes as we did not have a dragon boat,” said Cheryl MacIntosh, the Dragon Boat executive director for the club.
“And now we own three Dragon Boats as well as outrigger canoes, voyageur canoes and sprint racing canoes and kayaks.”
FLCC was started in 1994 by a small group interested in racing kayaks and canoes, and expanded into voyageur canoes when one was donated by the Cranberry Lady in 2000.
FLCC purchased additional voyageur canoes and over the next years the voyageur programs developed, leading to FLCC offering learn to dragon boat programs through the Township’s parks and rec department.
When the first dragon boat team formed in 2004, they rented a dragon boat each week from False Creek.
After considerable fundraising, the members purchased the first dragon boat for the club in 2005.
“From that point on the number of teams using dragon boats has grown quickly,” said MacIntosh. “There were four FLCC teams in 2005 and six in 2006. By 2008, it was nine teams and this season, we have 11 teams each with around 25 members.”
On Saturday, June 13, the Fort Langley Canoe Club held their first annual dragon boat regatta on the Bedford Channel in Fort Langley. With up to 20 paddlers plus a caller and a steersperson in each boat, and using the club’s three dragon boats in each race, there were up to 66 participants on the water at one time.
The Abreast with Fortitude dragon boat team was able to join in one of the races so there were four dragon boats on the water which was very exciting.
Though the races were fun for all, everyone paddled hard to win their heats.
Tents were set up in Marina Park with music playing, creating a festive atmosphere. Spectators lined the river bank with chairs, to cheer the racers towards the finish line. After the morning races, a barbecue was enjoyed by the paddlers with their family and friends.
In the afternoon, there were fun races including costumes, hula-hooping, baseball bats hitting water balloons as well as paddling through a figure eight course which was quite a challenge with the fast current.
The FLCC welcomes more competitive and recreational paddlers in Fort Langley.
For more information visit the website at www.fortlangleycanoeclub.com
v2
