Despite the heavy rain and the cancellation of competitors from Calgary, nine teams of Dragon boaters challenged each other in races at the annual Shuswap Dragon Boat Festival.
I am always impressed by those who participate. There was not a paddler under the age of 45 and most were on the other side of 60 years. While there are men and women on the teams, my applause goes to the survivors of breast cancer. When my mother was recovering from breast cancer surgery she was advised not to "overuse" the arm where the lymph glands had been removed. As a result she suffered from edema for years. It wasn't until a few years later that the first dragon boat team of survivors was formed.
Don McKenzie, a Canadian sports medicine specialist at the University of British Columbia, professor in the School of Kinesiology and Director of the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre started a dragon boat team for women with a history of breast cancer in 1996. He believed that the dragon boating experience would help to change attitudes toward “life after breast cancer” .The original team continues in Vancouver, paddling twice a week from March to July.
He was right, attitudes and lives have been changed!
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