Your Minnesota Dragon Boat Club brought two teams, Team Blue, our recreational crew, and Team ACP, our all-cancer paddler team, to the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash in Fort Dodge, Iowa this past weekend. A special thank you to Only 1 Auto Glass for sponsoring Team ACP for this event!
Team Blue had three dramatic races, facing adversity and regrouping each time. In race 1, they had an unfortunate spin-out taking them out of their lane, but the team gathered their reserves to straighten out and get across the finish line. A nearly perfect race 2 set them up for success in race 3, which saw them pulling out a victory by .66 seconds in the C Division finals for the gold medal after starting while going backwards! What grit!
- Race 1: 2:11.33
- Race 2: 1:47.42
- Race 3: 1:50.52 (C Division Final)
Team ACP’s time trial performances earned them a berth in the B Division finals, in which they narrowly missing third place by .66 seconds. However, the performance was enough for gold in the ACP division; congratulations to our Team ACP!
- Race 1 1:51.45
- Race 2 1:45.83
- Race 3 1:50.28 (B Division Final)
More than anything, many of our newest paddlers had their first racing and festival experiences, building friendships that will last through the season and beyond. And our experienced paddlers brought their wisdom and connections to help introduce everyone to the amazing world of dragon boat racing and the cross-team camaraderie that makes this sport so much fun. Thank you to our team managers for handling all the details that made this all possible, and to our coaches for preparing and leading us through the races. Thank you also to every club member who attended, brought family and friends to cheer us on, and helped us live our mission of being ambassadors of this sport. Well done!
shown here with the team managers for the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash.
Managers Monica and Kristine 3rd and 4th from left, on the ground.
Photo credits include MNDBC members and Britt Kudla Photography.
Comments by Ginny Moran