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World's First Dragon Boat Barrel Racing
The Event
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The world's first
dragon boat barrel racing event took place in
Seattle, WA on Saturday, August 21, 2004. Great
fun was enjoyed by over 50 participants representing a variety of clubs.
Paddlers from clubs along the west
coast from Portland, Oregon; western Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia
joined the Tacoma Dragon Boat Association in a celebration of fun, friendship,
and camaraderie to go where no dragon boater has gone before. |
| Straightening out of a right-hand
360 degree turn, this team heads for the next buoy. |
| Borrowing from the
U.S. and Canadian wild west heritage, we adapted the rodeo event of barrel
racing, usually done with one rider on horseback around three barrels. We raced a
dragon boat, ten paddlers, a drummer, and a steersperson around three buoys.
We pulled names out of a hat to form teams of ten folks who
had not paddled together before--to provide equal footing.
We ran the first round
with two left
turns and a right turn, The second round with two right turns and a left turn.
It was so much fun, the group voted unanimously to have a third round, the
direction of turns to be by team choice.
The only entry fee was to bring food
for 1 1/2 people. We had food galore. It was a true paddlers' paradise with lots
of laughing, eating, talking, and racing. Who would have thought a 250 meter
course with three turns would be that much work! |
Todd from Gun Haggis Bok Choy (Vancouver, BC) and Candy
from TDBA (Tacoma, WA) pull the nose of the boat through the turn while
Portland, OR survivor team paddlers pull the boat forward. |
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Our thanks to our wonderful paddling friends from a great
province and two great states for making this event a success.
Thanks to West
Marine for the donation of the buoy barrels and the Seattle Armory
for the use of restrooms, ramp, and dock.
Thanks to Lee, Coach of the Seattle location of TDBA,
for making the arrangements and preparing the dock for the event (all of
the participants know what this means). Thanks Clem, Head Coach of TDBA
for the idea, and Scott B and Lee for joining with Clem for the hours of
planning it took to make this crazy idea a reality. |
| Gloria Jones of Mighty Women,
Portland, OR drums around the buoy. |
|
The Participants
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| World's first dragon boat barrel racers--racing,
eating, making new friends, and making paddling history. What could be
better than this? |
|
Would you like these photos and more for
your very own? View
the thumbnails and download a JPG of the images you like. |
The Course
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Round One included two left turns and a right
turn.
Round Two included two right turns and a left
turn.
For the third round each team chose whether to repeat
the round one or two course. |
The Race Results
| Team |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Average |
Place |
| 1 |
2:56.76 |
3:01.04 |
3:14.66 |
3:04. |
2 |
| 2 |
3:17.12 |
3:21.11 |
3:50.24 |
3:29.40 |
4 |
| 3 |
3:04.61 |
2:57.47 |
2:58.51 |
3:00.00 |
1 |
| 4 |
2:51.36 |
3:23.12 |
3:25.01 |
3:13.20 |
3 |
| 5 |
4:09.38 |
3:31.30 |
3:36.08 |
3:45.60 |
5 |
|
