This Year’s Festival More Meaningful for Pulse Physiotherapy
Connor Massimo’s emotional connection to the Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival has deepened since last year, when his team glided across Little Lake so swiftly that they took home the trophy for the Community Competitive Championship. Last summer, the event had been a fun and healthy excursion that allowed his staff at Pulse Physiotherapy to do some team-building while raising money for a good cause - supporting world-class breast-cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC). This year, however, when Massimo and his team dip their paddles into the lake, they’ll be devoting the race to Massimo’s Aunt Rose — a music teacher in Cobourg who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer last summer and died in February. “She was only 49,” Massimo says. “At the time of the race last year, she wasn’t diagnosed yet.” The Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival, set to run on Saturday, is always an emotional event that is not only a fundraiser but also a means to honour survivors and those who have lost their battle. Massimo says he always looks forward to this annual one-day event, which is in its 18th year. Massimo and Adam Summers are coowners of Pulse Physiotherapy, which opened on Chemong Road in 2014. He says in their second year of business they brainstormed ways to support the local community and local charity when they got a challenge from Freeflo Physiotherapy in Lakefield to join the dragon boat races. It met all of their requirements: Supporting the community while also promoting physical activity in the great outdoors. That year, Massimo says, his staff was much smaller so they had six staff members join the team and had to enlist family and friends to reach the minimum of 20 people to fill a boat. “It was a tonne of fun,” Massimo says. “And it was very tiring. More tiring than expected!” Summers hosts a barbecue after each festival, which helps with team-building. The following year, however, things really gelled. The team members raised more than $1,500 and, much to their surprise and delight, they kept winning races, ultimately bringing home the trophy. Although they had some big, strong people paddling, Massimo says the key to being fast is the rhythm and the timing. “It was awesome to win and very unexpected,” he says with a laugh. (Adding to the thrill was that his team beat Freeflo Physio by half a boat length in the final.) Massimo says good-naturedly that the team will likely not repeat their championship performance this year but the team members do have a goal to up their fundraising total to more than $2,000. The festival has raised more than $3.1 million since its inception and this year’s goal is $188,000. This year’s funds are to help the PRHC Foundation invest in new laboratory automation technology that supports efficient processing of tissue and cytological samples, ensuring PRHC’s lab technolo-gists can provide pathologists with the materials they need to make accurate breast-cancer diagnoses even sooner. Just as important as the fundraising, though, is that when the Pulse Physio team members dip their paddles in the water this year, they will be silently honouring Massimo’s aunt. “I know everyone has a connection to cancer and that’s why these events are so important,” he says. “These events also bring more awareness, which is important.” Visit ptbodragonboat.ca to sponsor a paddler, team or to make a general donation.