Ladies Dragonboat team the West Coast Warriors, formerly Tri-Port Warriors , won a gold ribbon in the top division during the West Coast Dragon Boat Society Regatta in Port Alberni.
“This ribbon was well deserved because we had to do the last race twice,” said Lilian Meerveld, member of the Warriors who competed in the regatta on Sep. 24.
The team won their third race but actually had to race again, when the judges discovered they hadn’t properly recorded the teams’ times.
They won the second time around, as well.
Tour de Rock also hosted a fundraiser at the festival where dragon boat teams were invited to donate and race against the Port Alberni RCMP.
Members of the Warriors participated on the winning team for that event, along with other dragon boat members from the festival.
The RCMP, unfortunately, lost the race. “But it was great fun,” said Meerveld.
Ten ladies teams competed as well as five mixed teams.
The Warriors were the only team from the North Island to compete in the festival.
Port Alberni’s West Coast Dragon Boat Society owns three boats and has four teams paddling on Sproat Lake.
The teams and Society partner to run two regattas each year on the Lake; a Ladies only sprint in June, and a mixed sprint in September. Paddlers from the teams participate in racing and 55+ paddlers race in the BC Seniors Games. Dragon boats are the basis of the team paddling sport of dragon boat racing, a watersport which has its roots in an ancient folk ritual of contending villagers, which has been held for over 2000 years throughout southern China.
- Hanna Petersen article