Avalon Dragons welcome all to Paddle in Paradise July 19

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Avalon Dragons are toned up, teamed up and ready to row at their annual Paddle in Paradise Dragon Boat Festival on Octagon Pond set for Saturday, July 19.

There are 20 teams this year, 16 of which are festival or community teams. One of the teams is coming from Nova Scotia, and is half comprised of breast cancer survivors.

The Avalon Dragons team is comprised of breast cancer survivors who got together in 2006. There are currently 56 members. They are the only North American dragon boating team, and the second in the world to have built their own boat.

“There was one other built and that was by a team in Australia,” said Alice Mannion, the organization’s past chairperson, festival chair, and travel chair. “But it was by their community rather than by the members themselves.”

Dragon boating originated in China. The boats are large canoes with 10 seats, each seat holding two people. “You paddle a dragon boat rather than row it,” explained Mannion. “It’s a different stroke. It’s not like a stroke that you use in a canoe. It’s an A-frame stroke.”

In addition to the paddlers, a team also has a coxswain and a drummer.

The connection between dragon boating and breast cancer survivors started in Canada around three decades ago. At the time, it was believed that those who had had a mastectomy or the removal of lymph nodes could not lift anything with their affected arm. However, a physical therapist in Vancouver theorized that this was not true. To test it, he got a group of breast cancer survivors together to go dragon boating.

“In order to do that, they had to do exercise with the upper limbs and other exercises,” said Mannion.

The physical therapist wanted to assess whether the sport would hurt the survivors’ bodies. He concluded that, not only did dragon boating help prevent or lessen lymphedema, but it also improved the survivors’ health overall by making them more physically active.

“Once that happened, dragon boating for breast cancer survivors just went worldwide,” said Mannion.

The Avalon Dragons attended an international dragon boating festival in Florida in 2014.

“There were 2000 breast cancer survivors all in the one spot,” said Mannion.

The team will attend another international festival in France in 2026. “I think there’s going to be four thousand people there,” said Mannion. “Just amazing numbers.”

The Avalon Dragons hosted their first Paddle in Paradise Dragon Boat Festival in 2011, and, excluding the pandemic, have done so yearly since.

“We are the only group that has a festival here in this province,” said Mannion. “We practice regularly, as does a community team here, Rock Island Dragons, but in this part of Newfoundland we’re the only dragon boat teams. There is one in Central and one in Clarenville that we helped to get off the ground, but they’re community and breast cancer (crews) because they don’t draw from as big an area as we do here on the east coast.”

The Avalon Dragons open the festival and races to all comers.

“Because we don’t have teams that regularly practice, we put word out to the community and we say, ‘Come and be a festival team.’ So, a festival/community team gets together for the purpose of racing in the festival.”

These festival teams get to attend community practices held by the Avalon Dragons before the actual event. Teams can be comprised of friends, businesses, coworkers —anyone. The Marine Institute and MUN Library, for example, will have teams in this year’s festival.

“Those teams come, we show them how to dragon boat, we do an on-land session,” said Mannion. “We fit them with the PFD and give them a paddle, then we take them out on water and we show them how to use the information we’ve already given them and how to paddle.” The teams then compete on festival day.

There is no fee to attend the festival. The races will run all day, with each team guaranteed to participate in at least two races. Mannion said there will be a festival atmosphere.

“We encourage the teams to bring a tent, dress up,” she said. “We have awards for most spirited team, we have awards for most enthusiastic drummer. It is our major fundraiser of the year, so we also have a reward for the person who raises the most funds, and the team that raises the most funds.”

The Avalon Dragons encourage all the racing participants to raise a minimum of $100 each in pledges. The money goes towards supporting the Avalon Dragons.

During the festival, the Dragons hold a flower ceremony where they remember and honour those who have lost their battles with breast cancer. “And we recognize those that are still here struggling and those that are living a full life after breast cancer,” said Mannion.

When asked how people can support the Avalon Dragons, she said they encourage people to come watch the races and consider getting involved in the festival next year or joining a community team. “If you’re a breast cancer survivor we invite you to come and battle with us,” she added.

The Dragons’ main goal is to show people you can still have a full, active life following a diagnosis of breast cancer. “That’s what our mantra is through the dragon boating, and through our exercise program that goes along with dragon boating, and, of course, being a support group for people out there,” said Mannion. “We’ve had people join our team who are in every phase of the breast cancer journey.”

The Dragons hope that, one day, they can host a festival for teams of breast cancer survivors from all across Canada. “We’re all in the same boat, regardless of where we are,” said Mannion. “We’re all in the same boat, and we also share that common denominator so that we can support each other, as well.”

In addition to the races, the festival will offer other activities for attendees to enjoy. These will be Chinese letter-writing and a lion dance, offered by people from the Chinese community, as well as people offering temporary dragon tattoos and bracelet-making. When it comes to fundraising, there will be a 50/50 draw on site and a ticket draw for baskets. In the case of rain, the festival will be moved to July 20.