Three members of the Phantom Dragons crew attended the Bow Wave Dragon Boat Camp in Florida, May 1-7, 2K22. An annual event for some of our paddlers, this camp provides an intensive week of training, helping dragon boaters take their understanding of technique and paddling skill to a higher level.
Additional photos of the event are posted here:
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!
Congratulations to the Phantoms crew for another strong showing at this year’s Arizona Dragon Boat Festival, held March 26-27, 2K22. Many thanks to the CODA and LA Harbor Dragons paddlers who teamed up w/ us to compete in this event, and special thanks to Connie Flesuras for drumming for us!
A huge congratulations to our Pink Phantoms paddlers who raced w/ the Central Coast SurviveOars crew, winning Gold Medals in the BCS Division. 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:
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
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:
After having all of their competitive events canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Phantom Dragons / Pink Phantoms crew finally have another race on their calendar. The crew is registered to race in the Arizona Dragon Boat Festival, to be held March 26-27, 2K22. In all likelihood, several of our Pink Phantoms paddlers will also participate as part of survivor crews in the BCS Division races and ceremony. Wish us luck!
Additional information concerning this event can be found at the following 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
Matt Norfleet was recently selected to the Team USA Senior A Open and Mixed crews that would have competed in the Dragon Boat World Championships in Hong Kong this past November, had the event not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being named to a Team USA crew is an awesome achievement! Congratulations Matt!
As part of its effort to promote Colorado Cancer Survivor (BCS) Dragon Boat Program, DRACO had a pair of dragon boats on display at this year’s Race 4 Research on Sunday, August 15, 2K21. The annual event was hosted by the Cancer League of Colorado, and is a major fund-raiser for that organization.
Additional photos taken at the event can be seen at this link:
Our dragon boats gunwales were badly in need of repair. We decided to try a novel approach – encasing them in PVC pipe to protect the existing wood structure, and hopefully provide a more maintenance-free surface moving forward. More photos of the project can be seen here: Dragon Boat Gunwale Repair
