2010 Banff Dragon Boat Festival

This past weekend was the third annual Banff Dragon Boat Festival at Lake Minnewanka and it was Incredible!!! I was apart of "Dragon the Line"; the Banff Lake Louise Tourism Team. We practised four times (once a week over the past month) to get our "sea legs" and learn how to function as a team in the boat.

Dragon Boating is SO different from Canoeing...so much of our training was learning not to "J-Stroke" (aka canoeing) and do an "A-Stroke". Basically, the stroke is you twisting the core of your body and not using your arms. We also really had to work on paddling in-sync and at a slower pace...as it doesn't matter how fast you paddle...it's the strength of the stroke!

We had two races on Saturday and came fourth in each one...out of four boats. We were racing against mostly professional teams who have been training since May and as well, some local teams. Sunday's first race felt awesome for our team; we slowed down our "stroke rate" and were really working well as a team. We came in third...just .03seconds from the second place boat. Our last race was the "G Division Championship" and going into it we were all SO pumped. It was an intense race that involved us almost getting hit by another dragon boat...but we didn't let that distract us, kept on paddling and won the Championship!!!



The weekend was so awesome! I was able to enjoy two gorgeous days at Lake Minnwanka, meet some new people and come out of it a Champion :) Huge thanks to Tulene, our Team Caption and the volunteers who provided us with awesome food and drinks. I am So excited for next year's race and look forward to winning the "F Division Championship" ...