Here’s why Canada — and Alberta — are so good at dragon boat racing
Lethbridge’s Mia Chalmet, 18, is a dragon boat racing world champion.
She won two gold and two silver medals at the International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, which wrapped up on Aug. 13.
“When I first got [them], I put all four on my neck at one time,” she said. “It actually started hurting after a while.”
Canada’s national team won 52 gold medals at the event, far more than any other country. Canadian racers also took home 36 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Athletes from the United States managed less than half of Canada’s first-place finishes, winning 24 gold medals.
China won 30 gold medals, even though the sport traces its origins back to China’s Miluo River more than 2000 years ago, according to the International Dragon Boat Federation.
“We are the best in the world. We have been the best for a very long time,” said Dragon Boat Canada executive director Chloe Greenhalgh.
Greenhalgh credits Chinese business associations around the country for spreading the sports’ popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as corporate team-building events, which latched onto dragon boat racing because of its accessibility.
Dragon Boat Canada, established in 1994, was one of the world’s first national federations. Canada has both a strong history and ample opportunity for flat water paddling, which have allowed the national team programs to sustain success, Greenhalgh said.
“How long can we maintain this? I don’t know,” she said. “There’s always this constant drive to continue to be the best in the world.”
The world’s first breast cancer dragon boat team was created in Vancouver in 1996 to challenge the myth that exercise was an added risk factor, according to the team, Abreast in a Boat.
Cancer paddlers now make up a large portion of Canadian participants, Dragon Boat Canada says.
Liberty Fuentes, 17, from Lethbridge, discovered dragon boat racing when their mother took up the sport while recovering from breast cancer.
Fuentes said their mother and her teammates, many of whom were also cancer survivors, inspired them to join a youth team.
“It means that dragon boating can be for anyone,” they said. “No matter what age, no matter your physical ability, you probably can dragon boat.”
Fuentes won six medals in the women’s youth programs at the world championships, including two gold medals.
They said their body shook with nerves before some races, but they settled in and performed well.
“It was very hard. Like, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever worked for in my 17 years of existence,” Fuentes said.
According to local athletes and volunteers, Alberta’s dragon boat racing is concentrated in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge.
Calgary’s Dragon Boat Society said their racers and clubs are the best in the province, with more than 1,000 athletes competing every year.
The society hosts a Dragon Boat Festival every August. This year’s event saw 53 teams competing, mostly made up of Calgary athletes.
Co-chair Danny Ng was thrilled, but not surprised, to see Alberta athletes find success at the world championships.
“I am like paddles up, man,” said Ng. “They come from our membership, from Calgary. I think that’s just tremendous.”
Chalmet graduated from high school this year and said she spent much of the summer training and competing away from the friends she grew up with, some of whom are soon moving across the country or to the U.S.
“When it’s something that you really want, you’re willing to make sacrifices,” she said, but admitted it was difficult.
Chalmet and Fuentes plan to try out for the under-24 Canadian national team that will compete in the next world championships, set for 2025 in Germany.
Dragon boat racing was included as a demonstration sport in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but isn’t part of the Olympics’ current program.
Fuentes thinks that could change.
“That would just be absolutely amazing if I could have the chance to join the Olympics in my favourite sport,” they said.
