There's a sort of Viking-esque air to the North Saskatchewan as the Breast Friends charge down the river in their dragon boat.
"Come on, ladies!" roars the drummer, audible from about 200 metres away. "Charge! Raaargh!" Paddling in unison, the 22 pink-clad women whoosh half a kilometre down the river through the driving rain and pass the finish line. "Finish! Finish! Finish!" they cry.
And then they turn around to do it again.
The Breast Friends team was practicing at Louise McKinney Park Thursday in preparation for this weekend's 15th annual Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival. The event puts teams of rowers on the North Saskatchewan River in boats carved to look like dragons and has them row for glory.
It's very empowering, says St. Albert rower Cathy Lumley, especially for breast cancer survivors like herself. "The trainers are awesome … they make you go to places you never thought you could go."
Dragons on the water
Dragon-boating is a Chinese tradition that goes back thousands of years, says Warren Becker, a director with the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival Association. Back then, farmers would row boats with dragon heads on them to summon bountiful crops.
Edmonton started its festival in 1996, Becker says. "It was a demonstration sport at Hawrelak Park, and people liked it so much they wanted to make it an annual festival."
About 40 teams have entered this year's event, which is expected to draw some 5,000 people. Rowers will race 22 to a boat all weekend in fun 500-metre sprints, often while dressed in silly costumes and shouting cheers. Each will ride in a 15-metre-long boat outfitted with a dragon's head and tail. Buddhist monks will bless the boats by painting in the eyes prior to the race, awakening the dragon spirits.
New this year are the Masters Challenge — a special event for rowers aged 40-plus — and a hardcore two-kilometre race. In celebration of the event's 15th anniversary, each team will also be issued a traditional rice-farmer's hat to decorate and wear during the race.
Breast friends
Also new is Lumley, who joined the Breast Friends group this year after seeing an ad for it in a local paper. She knew she was meant to row as soon as she met the team, she says. "It really was fate. … It's great exercise, and I've met some wonderful women."
The Breast Friends movement started in 1995 in Vancouver, says Bernadette Giblin, a St. Albert library technician, team member and breast cancer survivor.
"At the time, women were told, 'Don't do anything, don't exercise,'" Giblin says, as it was thought that strenuous movements could trigger lymphedema (swollen arms) in women with breast cancer. Researcher Don McKenzie had a team of breast cancer survivors row a dragon boat to test that thought, and found that the exercise did not cause swelling; indeed, it likely improved their health.
That triggered a wave of similar teams around the world, including Edmonton. The teams are meant to inspire cancer survivors and raise awareness of the disease, Giblin says.
"It doesn't all end in death," she says. "Most live these days."
Cancer treatment "kicks the crap out of you," Lumley says, and groups like this let you meet others who have been through the same experience. "The girls are like sisters, and they support one other."
That friendship is one of the reasons why dragon boating is one of Canada's fastest growing sports, Becker says.
"It's all about timing, listening to each other and working with each other," he says. "We all work together as one in a boat."
The races run Saturday and Sunday at Edmonton's Louise McKinney Park. See www.edmontondragonboatfestival.com for details.
