Dragon boat teams find success
Gyms in Pottstown and Royersford paddled their way toward success when they won gold medals at a Philadelphia dragon boat competition.
Dragon boat racing is exactly what it sounds like; a 20 to 25 person team of paddlers in a long, dragon-shaped boat riding down a river as fast as possible. The sport originates in China but has become wildly popular in North American waters.
M Fitness for Life in Royersford and The Pottstown Athletic Club both fielded teams at the Independence Dragon Boat Regatta race in Philadelphia on June 3. Each team came in first place in the finals of their respective divisions. The event featured over 100 teams from across the East Coast.
Races were held along the Schuylkill River, on the regatta’s “ultra-wide, ultra-safe 5-lane setup” with a chaser boat behind the racers, according to the Regatta’s website, www.grunsports.com/db/idbr/. Each boat was steered by a member of the US national dragon boat team, and the races were 500 meters long.
M Fitness’s team, dubbed “The Ro Fo Mo Fo’s,” came in first out of five in the semifinals of the Mixed D1 Division with a time of 02:22.38, beating out second place by just 0.4 seconds. In the finals, they comfortably claimed gold with a final time of 02:23.59, beating second place by 4.13 seconds.
“The Pottstown Dragon Warriors”, Pottstown Athletic Club’s team, saw similar success on race day. In the semifinals of the Mixed C2 Division, they came in second with a time of 02:24.26. They stormed into first place in the finals with a final time of 02:15.80.
The two teams do more than race together; they also share resources so members can physically prepare for the sport. MFitness trains by using Pottstown’s boat for practice and also competed in it during the Philadelphia regatta.
The Pottstown Athletic Club first established a women’s dragon boat team in 2013 The team competed and scored gold in races of that same year. This would grow into many renditions of the Dragon Warriors, including a mixed team of both men and women that they competed with this year.
Rob Matthews, the head of the dragon boat initiative at The Pottstown Athletic Club, said he wanted to start a team because there was so much potential in bringing the sport to the area.
“Dragon boat racing is really something that anyone can do,” Matthews said. “We noticed that there wasn’t much interest in this area so our goal was to really get the community into something new.”
When the Pottstown team was first formed, they didn’t own a boat of their own so they would borrow from the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association’s team to use in races. Eventually, the Pottstown Athletic Club received a grant from the Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation to buy their own dragon boat as well as fund a room of ergometer machines, or ergs for short. The ergs simulate paddling and can be used even during the winter months when the water is too cold to go out in a boat to train.
The erg room allows teams from all over to practice paddling. Matthews