On June 10, 2023 DRACO hosted the sixth annual dragon boat day on Sloan’s Lake for the Shining Stars Foundation. It was a great event for all the children and their families, and again proved to be such a success that next year’s event is already in the planning stages. This is always one of the high points of the year for our cancer survivor paddlers.
More photos can be seen here: Shining Stars Dragon Boat Day 2K23
From November through March, our Phantoms crew trains at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center, using a custom-designed dragon boat pool simulator. This training allows us to travel to Tempe each year in March to compete in the Arizona Dragon Boat Festival on equal footing with west coast crews that can paddle on open water year-around.
Unfortunately, the 2023 Arizona Dragon Boat Festival suffered a last-minute cancellation due to flood/debris conditions at Tempe Town Lake. Still, our winter training left us well-prepared for the summer dragon boat season!
Additional photos and video clips from our pool training sessions can be seen at this link:
Phantoms Dragon Boat Pool Simulator Practices
DRACO is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $1,500 Service Grant by the Cancer League of Colorado, in support of its cancer survivor dragon boat program and activities it provides that benefit Colorado’s cancer survivor community.
Many thanks to the Cancer League of Colorado for its continued support!!!
On September 17, 2022 DRACO hosted the fifth annual dragon boat day on Sloan’s Lake for the Shining Stars Foundation. It was a great event for all the children and their families, and again proved to be such a success that next year’s event is already in the planning stages. This is always one of the high points of the year for our BCS / cancer survivor paddlers.
More photos can be seen here: Shining Stars Dragon Boat Day 2K22
On July 16, 2022 the Dragonboat Racing Association of Colorado (DRACO) provided boats, equipment and technical assistance to put on a charity dragon boat regatta on Grand Lake. The event served as a fund-raiser to benefit seven local non-profit organizations, along with DRACO’s breast cancer survivor (BCS) dragon boat program. These organizations put together 10-man teams, all without any prior dragon boat experience. It proved to be a challenging, but very successful and popular event!
Phantoms Coach/Captain Michael J Boyd is the subject of a feature article in the latest edition of Wheat Ridge Living magazine. Check it out!
On March 14 and March 28, 2022 we hosted dragon boat pool simulator practices for Adaptive Adventures, an adaptive sports provider that has several athletes training for an upcoming Paralympic competition. How awesome to be able to make our simulator accessible to this great group!
Additional photos taken at the event can be seen at this link:
Adaptive Adventures Dragon Boat Pool Practices
DRACO is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $1,500 Service Grant by the Cancer League of Colorado, in support of its BCS dragon boat program and activities that benefit Colorado’s cancer survivor community.
Many thanks to the Cancer League of Colorado for its continued support!!!
Several months ago we were approached by a 9News correspondent, inquiring about the possibility of doing a profile featuring one of our BCS paddlers. The project was approved, and work has been ongoing throughout the summer. The program was initially scheduled to be broadcast the evening of December 30, but was pre-empted at the last minute due to more critical coverage of the Marshall Fire, and finally aired on January 7, 2022.
Check it out at this link:
This season’s dragon boat events were all canceled again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that didn’t stop us from practicing, initially by holding “socially-distanced” training sessions in outrigger canoes. After we determined (via anonymous polling of our paddlers) that we could address COVID-19 concerns by requiring that everyone be fully vaccinated, we resumed our training in dragon boats. At the conclusion of the summer practice season, we moved back inside, holding dragon boat pool simulator practices.
Miscellaneous photos and video clips of our practices can be found at the following links:
Outrigger Canoe Practices 2K21
Dragon Boat Pool Simulator Practices 2K21
