The North Bay Dragons brought the dragon to life at Christie Lake Regatta and brought home two medals last month.
The Dragons are a "hidden team" within the North Bay Canoe Club, who were on the water on Tuesday and Thursday nights practicing for a regatta at Christie Lake Conservation area.
"We are a team of women ranging in age from 30s to 60s, and some have never been in a team sport, let alone bring home medals," said a release.
The Dragons have participated at the Christie Lake Regatta for the past three years. However, this is the first year, a full women’s team attended. The crew consists of 23 paddlers led by Coach Lorie Fairburn and Steersperson Michael Bain.
On the weekend of September 28, they competed at Christie Lake Conservation Area in an Alkame Dragon Boat Services’ Regatta near Pickering Ontario.
"After a summer of training on Trout Lake, The North Bay Dragons won medals in two of the toughest races of the day! The weekend success of the dragon boat team represents the hard work and training of everyone who attended," says the release.
"The team raced in the 200m preliminary race and placed 2nd to rank them in the ‘A’ Division. The 200m Championship Race had strong competition and during the race, a rival team was disqualified which meant the North Bay Dragons had to immediately, race again. The North Bay Dragons gave it their all, placing 3rd, to win a bronze medal."
The end of the day brought the long, tough 2000m race.
The North Bay Dragons ranked in the ‘C’ Division, which includes women-only and mixed crews. The 2k race consisted of 10 teams going out at 15-second intervals.
"This was by far the most adrenaline-kicking race of the day where paddlers bring all their power and ‘their heads in the boat’ or layperson's terms, to ‘keep their minds on paddling’! You can feel the intensity of the race as the coach and steersperson are yelling a chant of hit, hit, hit, or 5 hard-strokes followed by hit, hit, hit, then another 5 hard-strokes. The North Bay Dragons showed their power by passing four boats and almost passing a 5th to come in 2nd with a time of 10.31.77. An amazing team effort, as they were only .009 seconds away from the 1st place team.:
Final standings of the day; in the Women’s 200m Division, North Bay Dragons placed 4th out of 17 teams and in the combined men/women 2000m, North Bay Dragons placed 16th out of the 30 teams.
"The North Bay Dragons are out of hiding, a team to contend with, and have woken up the dragon!"
Registration information for next season, starting at the end of May 2025 can be found on the North Bay Canoe Club website.
