It has been a busy year of events for the Fairway Gorge Paddling Club, which is staging the third and final installment of its dragon boat season on the Gorge Waterway this weekend.
The Vancouver Island International Dragon Boat Festival opens Saturday at the club’s home base on Jutland Road, the same stretch of water where Vancouver Island Dragon Boat Race Series events were held in May and July.
The upcoming two-day event, founded in 2014, will be held between the Point Ellice Bridge and the Selkirk trestle, and is free for the public to attend. “It’s great sport to watch,” said Erik Ages, race director and general manager of Fairway Gorge Paddling Club.
“For one thing, the venue is so great for spectators because all of the races are fully visible. From start to finish, you can watch the whole thing.”
The Vancouver Island International Dragon Boat Festival is one of two dragon boat festivals held in August, but is the only one staged by Fairway Gorge Paddling Club.
The Canada Dry Victoria Dragon Boat Festival, staged by the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival Society and presented by Fairway Market, was held Aug. 9-10 in the Inner Harbour but with much more of a community-event focus.
“I think what distinguishes this event is that it’s a celebration of dragon boat paddling,” Ages said. “It’s an end-of-season tribute to all of the race formats people have trained for throughout the year.”
The racing will be competitive as it is presented pentathlon-style, with races of 1,500-metre, 500-metre, 200-metre and 100-metre distances, along with a flag relay. The five-race format was designed for paddlers by paddlers, which ups its appeal for those who want to test their competitive spirit. About 800 athletes on 33 teams from the U.S. and Canada will take part.
There’s no shortage of athletes who train specifically for Vancouver Island International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat racing has become a worldwide phenomenon in recent years, along with outrigger canoe racing (race boats in the former are distinguished by the dragon face that adorns one end.) Several members of Fairway Gorge Paddling Club are in Hilo, Hawaii participating in the world sprint championships, which adds to the growing legitimacy of dragon boating as an elite sport on Vancouver Island, Ages said.
“I think one of the distinguishing features of dragon boating is that people get to experience a sense of valour. It so rarely happens in everyday life these days, where you can experience that sense of inner hero. It delights me seeing people experience that for themselves.”
In July, rising production costs prompted Fairway Gorge Paddling Club to move Nanaimo’s South Island Dragon Boat Festival to the capital region for a year, which led to some confusion (it will return to Nanaimo next season, on better financial footing, according to Ages.)
Many dragon boat festivals is far better than not enough, he said. “Throughout my career in this sport, I’ve always known that dragon boat paddlers love to race. First and foremost, that matters most to them.”
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