Donnas Stuart, a breast cancer survivor, said her dragon boat team is like a support group on water and said she will be disappointed if the annual festival is ever cancelled.
Organizers share her sympathy.
With just 27 teams taking part last weekend, the lowest number in years at an event that drew upward of 100 teams in its heyday, they said they still hoped to raise $60,000 this year, $10,000 more than last summer, and are confident the Dragon Boat weekend will return to its glory in years to come.
Rob Barrett, executive director for the Catholic Family Development Centre, one of the three charities to benefit from the Dragon Boat Festival, said he wasn’t worried about the number of teams who participated and added there was a huge shift since the economy recovered and expected numbers to increase in future years.
"I think at one point we were close to a 100 teams," Barrett said. "We were different, in terms of our economy back then. The economy has changed and we are in a transitional period where I see us building back up again."
A few new teams and new sponsors are positive signals that things would improve, he said. There were 37 teams in 2009.
Stuart, diagnosed with cancer 11 years ago, went through chemotherapy and today the nurse counts herself among the disease’s survivors
She said her participation with the dragon boat races was almost spooky because when she was in university her studies focused on breast cancer and she even wrote a paper about a dragon boat team made up of breast cancer survivors.
After completing her cancer treatment, she decided to join the team and said the annual bonding session has been inspirational, to say the least.
"It is such an awesome sense of camaraderie," Stuart said. "Even after 11 years I still love it. You get in that boat, you’re on the water, the sun shining, the water sparkling and you sit around and talk. It’s like a support group in a boat."
That shared experience became something beyond words because each woman knew what the other had gone through, she said.
"It is a sense of knowing. We really are sisters," she said. "You really feel that in the boat…we lost some paddlers here and there…but there is a core group of us that have been paddling for about 11 years. It is just awesome and I guess that is why everyone comes back because we all feel that way."
After finishing a race on Saturday, the crew was met by Doris Rossi, one of the founders of Dragons of Hope, who used to row in competitions, but has since stayed on shore to organize lunch.
Rossi said the dragon boat team has became more about harmony and spirituality than winning competitions.
"If you won against cancer then you have won the biggest battle," Rossi said. "This event is very empowering to the survivors. I recall one year where we had a woman who just finished treatment and had to be on the water. As soon as she was off the water, she had to go behind a tree and be sick. She had to paddle…that’s how empowering it is."
Both Rossi and Stuart said they would be disappointed if the festival was cancelled, though the team’s manager promised the team wouldn’t disband.
Richard Culpeper said they would continue to row at other events even if the Thunder Bay Dragon Boat Festival were to stop.
"The Lakehead Canoe Club would certainly still hold a dragon boat race," Culpeper said. "There are still other dragon boat races in the region. This activity is not going away. If you look on a worldwide basis, it is one of the fastest growing sports out there."
Culpeper said they don’t participate in the festival to win, just to be the best they can be.
"The team members are breast cancer survivors and we are just trying to support each other," Culpeper said. "They work very well together. This team does well with everyone paddling in perfect sync. They are attentive to everyone else in the boat and we have one single, very powerful, stroke followed by the next."
Money raised also goes towards St. Joseph’s Foundation of Thunder Bay and Canadian Mental Health Association.
Organizers share her sympathy.
With just 27 teams taking part last weekend, the lowest number in years at an event that drew upward of 100 teams in its heyday, they said they still hoped to raise $60,000 this year, $10,000 more than last summer, and are confident the Dragon Boat weekend will return to its glory in years to come.
Rob Barrett, executive director for the Catholic Family Development Centre, one of the three charities to benefit from the Dragon Boat Festival, said he wasn’t worried about the number of teams who participated and added there was a huge shift since the economy recovered and expected numbers to increase in future years.
"I think at one point we were close to a 100 teams," Barrett said. "We were different, in terms of our economy back then. The economy has changed and we are in a transitional period where I see us building back up again."
A few new teams and new sponsors are positive signals that things would improve, he said. There were 37 teams in 2009.
Stuart, diagnosed with cancer 11 years ago, went through chemotherapy and today the nurse counts herself among the disease’s survivors
She said her participation with the dragon boat races was almost spooky because when she was in university her studies focused on breast cancer and she even wrote a paper about a dragon boat team made up of breast cancer survivors.
After completing her cancer treatment, she decided to join the team and said the annual bonding session has been inspirational, to say the least.
"It is such an awesome sense of camaraderie," Stuart said. "Even after 11 years I still love it. You get in that boat, you’re on the water, the sun shining, the water sparkling and you sit around and talk. It’s like a support group in a boat."
That shared experience became something beyond words because each woman knew what the other had gone through, she said.
"It is a sense of knowing. We really are sisters," she said. "You really feel that in the boat…we lost some paddlers here and there…but there is a core group of us that have been paddling for about 11 years. It is just awesome and I guess that is why everyone comes back because we all feel that way."
After finishing a race on Saturday, the crew was met by Doris Rossi, one of the founders of Dragons of Hope, who used to row in competitions, but has since stayed on shore to organize lunch.
Rossi said the dragon boat team has became more about harmony and spirituality than winning competitions.
"If you won against cancer then you have won the biggest battle," Rossi said. "This event is very empowering to the survivors. I recall one year where we had a woman who just finished treatment and had to be on the water. As soon as she was off the water, she had to go behind a tree and be sick. She had to paddle…that’s how empowering it is."
Both Rossi and Stuart said they would be disappointed if the festival was cancelled, though the team’s manager promised the team wouldn’t disband.
Richard Culpeper said they would continue to row at other events even if the Thunder Bay Dragon Boat Festival were to stop.
"The Lakehead Canoe Club would certainly still hold a dragon boat race," Culpeper said. "There are still other dragon boat races in the region. This activity is not going away. If you look on a worldwide basis, it is one of the fastest growing sports out there."
Culpeper said they don’t participate in the festival to win, just to be the best they can be.
"The team members are breast cancer survivors and we are just trying to support each other," Culpeper said. "They work very well together. This team does well with everyone paddling in perfect sync. They are attentive to everyone else in the boat and we have one single, very powerful, stroke followed by the next."
Money raised also goes towards St. Joseph’s Foundation of Thunder Bay and Canadian Mental Health Association.
