BCAM member, Vivia Chow, recently returned from South Africa where, as a member of the Two Abreast dragon boating team, she competed in the 2004 world championships.

Dragon boating started in the Chinese kingdom of Chu where Qu Yuan, statesman and poet, lived. Qu was an honest man, dearly loved by the people, but jealous rivals accused him of treason and he was banished. In despair and unable to bear his sorrow, he threw himself into the Mi Lo River. Local fishermen ran to their boats and rowed out in a futile attempt to rescue him. Qu became an inspiration to his fellow citizens who struggled successfully to overcome a corrupt administration. Today, dragon boat racing commemorates the frantic attempts to save Qu.

Given this history of the dragon boats, it was interesting to bring dragon boat racing to South Africa, a country once permeated by injustice, as was the homeland of Qu. In both countries, the people rose up in righteous indignation and change has been the outcome.

This was not an ordinary competition. The world championships brought together not only paddlers from across Canada, but drew over 1,500 people from thirteen countries, many of them recognized athletes. Our mission was not only to paddle well, but to increase our visibility and to bring an awareness of breast cancer to the teams from other countries.

We were fortunate that, on racing days, the Canadian team was given access to a large conference room in a hotel on site. This provided shelter from the rain and an opportunity to get to know each other. We met as a team on the first morning of the competition and the coach adroitly led us through a session of visualization. Then we were on the water for our first race. We held our own and placed third.

Members of established teams from many countries remarked how imspired they had been by our efforts and how they were motivated to start breast cancer dragon boat teams in their own countries. We received the bronze medal. Mission accomplished.