Vancouver, BC. June 16th - 17th
90,000 spectators grace the shores of False Creek in Vancouver to witness dragon boats going neck-to-neck to the finish line.
First produced as a demonstration sport at the 1986 Vancouver World's Fair, Dragon Boat racing has grown in leaps and bounds. In 1989, recognizing Vancouver's unstable social and racial climate due to heavy immigration, former BC Lieutenant Governor, Dr. David C. Lam and prominent businessman, Milton K. Wong spearheaded the creation of the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival.
Dragon Boats are brightly painted and decorated canoe-like boats, and range anywhere in length from 40 to 100 feet. Their heads are shaped like open-mouthed dragons, while the sterns end with a scaly tail. Before a dragon boat enters competition, it must be "brought to life" by painting the eyes in a sacred eye-dotting ceremony. A drummer sits at the bow of the boat and controls the tempo of the paddlers who sit very close together and must make their strokes in unison.
The Festival was created as a showcase of Vancouver's growing cultural diversity and to promote racial harmony and cross-cultural understanding to all Canadians, both old and new. Vancouverites were invited down to the festival to experience spectacular food, entertainment, arts and childrens programming reflecting Vancouver's cultural diversity. The festival has developed into one of Vancouver's most anticipated annual summer events. Recognized as North America's biggest and best, Vancouver's Alcan Dragon Boat Festival 19th Anniversary was a true celebration of multiculturalism, attracting over 90,000 people and more than 180 dragon boat teams from across the Lower Mainland and around the globe.
The race course at the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival is 500 metres in length with 8 lanes racing. More than 180 teams and 4,500 paddlers took part in this year's event. In a race boat, there are 20 paddlers, a drummer and a steersperson. Average times to complete the 500-metre race course at this venue is between two and two and half minutes.
Dr. Hugh Fisher, Coach
Having acquired media accreditation status to this year's festival, and having had a previous photo assignment with our own BC champions, my main focus was in following the Laoyam Eagles racing team from Pemberton, BC., coached by the untiring Olympic gold medalist, Hugh Fisher. Hugh won a gold medal with Alwyn Morris in the 1,000-metre kayak pairs, and a bronze in the 500-metre pairs at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. In 1985, he was made a member of the Order Of Canada, and was inducted into the BC Sports Hall Of Fame.
In August 2006, at the International Dragon Boat Federation Crew Club World Champions in Toronto, the Laoyam Eagles won an unprecedented 7 of 9 Junior finals, overwhelming the previously, rarely-challenged Pickering Dragon Boat Team and their arch rivals, the West Rouge Canoe Club, as well as strong teams from New York, Philadelphia and California. Now in their eighth year, the Laoyam Eagles continue to improve and evolve. Still coached by Hugh Fisher, and still practising in canoes on the local rivers and lakes of beautiful Pemberton, this crew is made up of a mix of members of the Canadian Junior National crew that placed third at the World Nations Championship in Poland last fall.
As many predicted, the Laoyam Eagles took top honours again at this year's Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, winning all their heats in both days of the competition, and bringing home the coveted medal and trophy as champions in the Junior division.
Pemberton, British Columbia is proud to be home to THE BEST paddlers in the world!
- by Trevor Batstone, June 17, 2007
