Staff
The Boundary Waters Dragon Boat Club is rowing forth with plans for next year, including sending some volunteers away for training to help grow the sport here.
The club will be sending a group to Pickering, Ont. in the spring for training with P3 Paddle Zone and Alkame Dragon Boat Services, and anybody is welcome to take part in it, said club member Annely Armstrong-Thorstad.
The club will use part of an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant—received in 2013 to continue to develop the club and its annual festival—to put toward the trip, which is set for the first weekend in May.
If enough people go, the cost will be affordable.
Training can vary from coaching to steering certification, with the emphasis on team-building, safety, and fun.
“We want to put together a competitive team so we need to train a little bit more seriously,” noted Armstrong-Thorstad.
She added the local club has a boat, a boat trailer, and equipment trailer—and wants to make the best use of it.
“We can now take our show on the road and go promote Fort Frances and our Fort Frances event at other places,” Armstrong-Thorstad said.
“So we’re looking at hitting up Bemidji and different places.
“We’re just looking at getting our competitive team together so anybody is welcome if it’s something they want to do,” she added.
“We would love to have people come down and be trained.”
Anyone interested in learning more can contact Armstrong-Thorstad at 274-5773.
Armstrong-Thorstad also noted the local dragon boat club is nearly unique. Its board features members from both sides of the border, making the club truly international.
As well, the club has been granted foundation status—meaning the money it earns can be given back to community groups.
It is only one of two dragon boat groups in Canada that has such status.
The club also has been getting interest and support from other dragon boat clubs across the country.
For example, the ARES Dragonboat Team from Vancouver contacted it and sent along training materials.
The club has held its dragon boat festival on the upper Rainy River for the past three summers.
