Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team: fun, fitness, friendship and the occasional haggis

Join a dragon boat team that specializes in multicultural and community activities:
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team


Emilie grabs the flag at the 2007 Vancouver Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. – photo VFK


Hope you can join us for a wonderful
season of dragon boat paddling.  2007 was an AWESOME year
for the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  Our vision is to expand to 2 teams for twice as much fun for 2008.  We welcome our new and old paddler friends from CC Dragons to add lots of experience and fun to our team.


Our highlights from 2007 included winning a gold medal in B division at
the 3rd annual Greater Vernon Dragon Boat Festival, held on Kalamalka
Lake.  This is one of our favorite races, and we plan to be returning
to “lake of many colours.”

Other 2007 highlights include:

DSC_5885
In 2007, we raced 7 dragon boat races + 2 voyageur canoe races.  We were filmed for German Public Television ZDF for the program “Toronto to Vancouver by Train” http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx


a) We became the poster faces for Kilts Night at Doolin's Irish Pub, every 1st Thursday each month.
b) We raced at the Lotus Sports Club dragon boat regatta at Burnaby's Barnet Marine Park
c) UBC Day of the Long Boat – 8 voyageur canoes bumping into each other
d) Two Gung Haggis teams at the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe regatta – our beginner/fun team beat our advanced paddlers!

Some of our activities so far for 2008! 

On February 25 2008, we were featured on Global News as part of a news series highlighting what makes BC world class.  We represented cultural diversity!
http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/2/28/3551687.html
You can see the Global News feature on the web
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html


One March 16th, we put some Chinese dragons and lions into the Celtic Fest's St. Patrick's Day Parade.  In the first three years of the St. Patrick's Day parade, we have put a Taiwanese dragon boat into the parade, but we had some technical challenges getting a dragon boat for the 2008 parade so Stuart Mackinnon and I paddled the car.

DSC_4460 Gung Haggis Fat Choy


Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practices 


Sundays 1:30 pm – 3pm  (Recreation & Beginner team)
Tuesdays at 6:00 sharp to 7:45 pm (Beginner + technique practice)
Wednesday at 6:00pm to 7:45pm (Recreation + advanced practice)


All practices are from Dragon Zone, at Creekside Park
Southeast corner of False Creek
look for Green trailer building
South of Science World – just above aqua bus ferries.

Parking – park on the street. Try Quebec or 2nd Ave.
pay parking available at Science World – no parking on city lot anymore.

Price for Spring paddling is $180 each, and will cover boat rental, coaching, and registration in Alcan Dragon Boat Festival races June 21 & 22.  Other races cost additional.

Price for Summer paddling is aproximately $120 each, and
will cover boat rental, coaching, plus registration for one summer
race.  Additional summer races are aproximately $30 each.



Other possible races are:
May 20       Lotus Sports Club “Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta” (Burnaby)
July 15th   
Kent-Seattle
Dragon Boat Races
(Lake Meridien, Kent WA),
July 22/23 GreaterVernon Dragon Boat Festival (Kalamalka Lake, Vernon BC)
July 22       Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Festival (Harrison Lake, BC)
Sept 2/3    Vancouver
International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race
(Vancouver)

other races may be considered, depending on interest

Will we have 1 or 2 teams?
One
team is now confirmed for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – but if
enough new people come on board, we can expand to two teams –
Recreation and Beginner.


We
have a lot of people returning + paddler friends from CC Dragons, and we have lots of
interest from wanna-be paddlers.


Please
invite friends to come out to try dragon boating over the next two
weeks, before the boat starts going TOO FAST!


contact me by e-mail:    gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
home phone: 604-987-7124

Cheers, Todd Wong

 
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/GungHaggisdragonboatteaminformation


Pictures from 2005
1) Drummer Todd with Flag Grabber Ed on The Eh? Team at Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race, featured in a 2007 scholastic textbook – “Literacy in Action”
2) Todd with Dave Samis, at Sea Vancouver Festival for dragon head carving tent

2 thoughts on “Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team: fun, fitness, friendship and the occasional haggis

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


nine × = 18