Great Lake Paddlers win 7 medals at Worlds

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KONRAD DOERRBECKER

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FOR POSTMEDIA

(Dragon boating is an ancient paddling sport with a 2,000-year-old history that has its roots in southeastern China. In its modern form, up to 20 paddlers, led by a steer and drummer, propel a narrow canoe like a boat over a race course to the beat of the drummer’s beat.Over the past 40 years the sport’s popularity has exploded with more than 70 countries on every continent now members of the International Federation of dragon boat (IDBF).In Canada in general, and in Ontario in particular, the sport has become a fixture in every big city and many small towns.Fierce national championships are held every year and local events almost every weekend. -ends.)

In January 2020, the Belleville-based dragon boat club competing as the Great Lake Paddlers (GLP) was on a roll.

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Not only had they won multiple medals at the 2019 Canadian Championships, but they had qualified in six age and gender categories for the Club Crew World Championships to be held in France the following year.

“I thought we had a great chance,” said Jeff Durish, president and athlete of the Quinte Paddling Club (GLP’s parent club). “In 2018, we went there with 80 athletes and brought back four medals, including a gold from the Hungarian championships. The team that went to France was better. We were surprised at how successful we were in Hungary. We expected it in France.

Then COVID-19 hit. The championships have been cancelled. Training and racing opportunities, in a sport where 20 paddlers, a drummer and a pilot breathe and sweat together in close proximity, have evaporated.

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Trying to pick up where you left off proved daunting as wave after wave of covid variants hit paddlers. It wasn’t until August 2021 that the team started training again. And then just once a week.

“We weren’t sure how to move forward from there,” Durish said. “Then they (Dragon Boat Canada) announced the 2022 championships in Sarasota, the FLA would be launched and the qualified teams for France would be pre-qualified.”

Despite the loss of two years of training (the United States and some other countries practiced almost throughout COVID) and the loss of many athletes, “we decided to go for it.”

So, with a team of just 22 athletes, including rookies who had never competed before, and two fewer men than allowed, the Great Lakes Paddlers embarked on a gap-filled accelerated training program that drove to Worlds in Sarasota with a whimper and low expectations.

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And finished with five silver medals and two bronze.

It almost doubled what the club achieved in the last championships with a quarter of the athletes.

In the process, this motley crew from small town Ontario managed to beat a legendary men’s team from Philadelphia (once) in the Open C (men’s 60,500+) and keep it very close with a American women’s boat that has swept the last two championships. The open crew (men) included Val Alston and Andrea McNeill, two GLP women who raced back-to-back, 500m, cumulative, open and women’s finals.

The final medal tally included a silver sweep for women in the over 60 small boat category, including the 200m, 500m and 2000m events. The GLP men (open) won silver in the 200 and 500m and bronze in the 2000m. The GLP Open Team of over 50 small boats also won a bronze medal in the 2000m.