BREATHING FIRE
14 area dragon boaters head to worlds
A record number of Edmonton dragon boat racers have made Team Canada and will now head to this year’s world championships.
Fourteen members of the Edmonton Dragon Boat Racing Club (EDBRC) will head to Thailand later this month to compete at the World Dragon Boat World Championships.
Sofia Calderon, 16, became the first EDBRC junior to compete in and win the junior world cup at the 2017 championships in France. Last time around, she was the sole junior Edmonton racer, this year two other juniors will be travelling alongside her.
“It’s very nice to see that I’m not the only Albertan that’s a junior representing the club and the province as a whole. It’s nice to see that the legacy of a youth making it to Team Canada is carrying out into the lives of others,” said Calderon. “Now I’m just hoping that the other juniors will get to experience what I did holding the cup and feeling that pride of winning the championship.”
All together the racers will compete against over 30 countries across five different categories including junior, premiere and a variety of senior divisions. Close to 1,400 athletes overall are expected to race in the competition between Aug. 20-25.
Ryan Dumas will be competing in the premiere division, his second go around at the World Championships. He’s aiming to beat the Chinese at a short distance race, a feat he couldn’t accomplish on their home turf two years ago.
“We did well but the team’s a lot stronger this time and we’ve been playing around with our stroke a little bit so we’re hoping to have something better,” said Dumas.
In order to one-up his last performance, Dumas said his team has been in the boat three times a week, paddling in an outrigger canoe two to three times a week, with additional workouts and sessions on specialized rowing machines in between.
The Edmonton athletes will be joined by two Calgary rowers to round out the Alberta contingent.
“The more you hear about paddlers from landlocked Edmonton, the more people get interested in the sport,” said Michael Reyes, marketing director for the club.
“It’s a record number from the province. Coming from Alberta you get to see the sport grow in this region.”
This summer the EDBRC had to cancel an unusually high number of practices due to rain causing poor river conditions. All of the racers said they weren’t worried about the poor weather and they are all ready to compete.