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June 21, 2017

Canadian paddlers battle the U.S., Czech Republic, and China at the Concord Pacific Champion Race Series’ International Cup

Saturday, June 24 @ 1:30 pm

Top men’s and women’s dragon boat teams from Canada, United States, Czech Republic and China — including teams from Shanghai, Macau, and Hong Kong — will compete in three swift 100-metre sprints during the Concord Pacific Champion Race Series this Saturday starting at 1:30 pm. The word’s elite paddlers will battle it out in a series of three races where the slowest team is eliminated in each sprint. Winners are awarded the Champion Series’ pinnacle: the International Cup.

Waterfront bleachers in the Concord Pacific Fan Zone in False Creek offer front row seats to the Champion Race Series, a highlight of the 2017 Concord Pacific Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival, running Friday through Sunday.

Other 2017 champion race highlights on Saturday include:

• The Grand Dragons Cup: Award-winning mature teams compete in a light competition for bragging rights and a shiny cup.
• CIBC Breast Cancer Survivor Race: This race showcases the strength and hope of breast cancer survivors as they compete while raising funds and awareness.
  · BCAA U24 Cup: See medal-winning junior athletes, who are training now to compete at national and international levels.
  · Steve Nash Fitness World Guts and Glory: Expect the unexpected during this swift women-only 2-km race, where boats have been known to overturn.

Visiting team highlights:

The Shanglong Dragonboat Club is a group of recreational paddlers promoting the traditional Chinese sport of dragonboating in Shanghai. Team members are drawn from more than 15 countries, including USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Italy, Japan, and China. The team is made up of managers, teachers, translators, mechanics, and foreign students, whose ages range from 20 to 50 years old.

MACAU IACM dragon boat team was formed in the 1980s when Macau was still managed by the Portuguese government. IACM is the short form of the Portuguese name: Instituto para os Assuntos Civicos e Municipais, or, in English, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau. Teammates, from different departments of IACM, include veterinarians, animal inspectors, mechanical engineers, environmental engineers, botanical farmers, chemists, and heavy vehicle drivers. Team ages vary from 26 to 60; some members have been paddling for more than 30 years. This talented team won the mixed small boat championship in September 2016 in Macau and Korea. Watch MACAU IACM dragon boat team in action on YouTube!

Admission is free for all ages to the Champion Race Series on Saturday and to all sporting, cultural and music events at the 2017 Concord Pacific Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival, this weekend, June 23 to 25.