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Festival breaks record
‘Fantastic turnout’ for dragon boat weekend attributed to sunshine
rafe arnott/metro vancouver
A drummer screams for more power from her crew during the finals of the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival at False Creek yesterday. Thousands lined the seawall to cheer on more than 170 teams during the record-breaking weekend.
« As long as you paddle hard, you can be competitive at any age. That’s the great thing about dragon boating.»
Competitor Karmen AulakhMore than 100,000 people turned out for the 20th Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival this past weekend, breaking the previous record by about 10,000.
Anita Webster, spokesperson for the festival, attributed the record attendance to the sunshine.
“The combination of the weather and the open site this weekend has meant we’ve had a fantastic turnout,” she said yesterday. “I’m really, really pleased with the way the festival has gone.”
The categories are separated into competitive and recreational with multiple divisions within those.
For Competitive A, the False Creek Racing Canoe Club A (FCRCC) placed first at 1:55:150, and Mauna Hale placed a close second, at 1:55:920.
For Competitive B, Masters of D’Zone placed first at 2:07:950 and Sudden Impact Black second, at 2:08:4570.
Karmen Aulakh of Sudden Impact Black has been competing for eight years and calls it the “greatest sport in the world.”
“It’s a great team sport,” he said, adding that the ages of the other people on his team range from 19 to 53. “As long as you paddle hard, you can be competitive at any age. That’s the great thing about dragon boating.”
Belinda Lau, whose team PWC Paddlers scored a bronze medal in the Recreational E division, said her role is particularly exciting.
“As a drummer you get to see all the action and keep the pace,” she said. You see everything and it’s really exciting.”
There were 170 registered teams this year, with 27 people on each team, for a total of 4,600 racers.
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