DRACO is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $7,500 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!!!
The Phantom crew placed fourth in the 500-Meter Premiere Mixed Division at the 2024 Kansas City Dragon Boat Festival. Several of our female/survivor paddlers also had the opportunity to race in the Premiere 500-Meter Women’s Division, winning gold medals for their efforts. Congrats to all on an outstanding performance!
This was our first trip to Kansas City, and it proved to be a very fun and competitive event.
Additional photos of the event are posted here:
Braving weather that nearly forced cancellation of the event, the Phantoms crew placed third in the 250-Meter Sport Division at the 2024 Riverdale Regatta.
Photos/video from the event can be found at this link:
On September 21, 2024 DRACO hosted the seventh 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 planning for next year’s event is already underway. 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 2K24
As part of its effort to promote its Colorado Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat Program, DRACO had a dragon boat on display at this year’s Race 4 Research on Sunday, August 18, 2K24. The annual event was hosted by the Cancer League of Colorado, and is a major fund-raiser for that organization. One of our survivor paddlers, Kimberly Watanabe, entered the race and placed first in her age division!
Additional photos taken at the event can be seen at this link:
The Dragonboat Racing Association of Colorado (DRACO) displayed a dragon boat in the Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival Parade on August 10, 2K24. It was a great opportunity to increase public awareness of the sport of dragon boating and promote our dragon boat program for cancer survivors.
Additional photos taken at the event can be seen at this link:
In another stellar performance, the Phantoms crew captured Silver Medals in the 400-Meter Sport Division and Bronze Medals and the Third Place Trophy in the 200-Meter Premiere Division at the 2024 Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.
Additional photos and video clips of the Phantoms in action are posted here:
Members of our coaching staff attended the Bow Wave Race Camp in Pickering, Ontario. This intensive week-long camp taught by world class coaches covered a broad range of subject pertaining to dragon boating technique, coaching, race strategy, etc. It also afforded an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with paddlers and coaches from all over the United States, Canada and other parts of the world.
On the last day of camp, attendees compete in the highly competitive Pickering Dragon Boat Challenge. Note that the camp is entirely at the expense of the participants.
Additional photos of the event are posted here:
Congratulations to the Phantoms crew for another strong showing at this year’s Arizona Dragon Boat Festival, held March 23-24, 2K24. In a highly competitive event, our Phantom Dragons / Pink Phantoms crew placed third in the Guts & Glory Division D races. Many thanks to paddlers from other crews who teamed up w/ us to compete in this event!
Also, special recognition for our Pink Phantoms paddlers who assisted crews in other divisions. A generous grant from the Cancer League of Colorado helped make participation in this event possible for our BCS paddlers.
As always, this year’s Arizona Festival was a very competitive event. Check out the full Race Results
Additional photos of the event are posted here:
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. It’s a very hard workout – we’re thrilled when we can finally get back out on the open water!
Additional photos and video clips from our pool training sessions can be seen at this link:
Phantoms Dragon Boat Pool Simulator Practices 2K24