Category Archives: Dragon Boat Information

Gung Haggis dragon boat team is part of World Class BC on Global News show Feb 26

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Dragon boat racing really does represent cultural diversity in BC.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is really honoured that we were asked by Global News to represent this topic for their program World Class BC on Feb 26, in a story by Elaine Yong, who shared with me that her husband is Scottish Canadian, and she is sometimes called McYong.  Guess we will have to recruit her for the team!

I watched the airing of the story at a friend's home, where we were having a farewell dinner party for author Sharon Butala.  Sharon has been helping the Historic Joy Kogawa House Committee with grant applications to create a writer-in-residence program, and has been staying at Joy's apartment in Vancouver's West End. 

Sharon shared with me, that she really enjoyed seeing the cultural diversity on Robson St.  Not only were there lots of different students from all across Asia, but people from all over the world, and even men holding hands.  Coming from tiny Eastend, Sasketchewan, Sharon said that it felt like being in a different world.  The great thing she said, was that everybody was happy.  Vancouver's tolerance for racial and lifestyle differences is very high, and this has given support for helping create our cultural diversity in BC. 

And then we heard Global News anchor Deborah Hope say that cultural diversity is one of the things that makes BC World Class.  “It's on!” I called to everybody upstairs to come watch the show with us.  Very appropriately, the feature unfolded with stories about First Nations canoes and carving, featuring Nu-Chal-Nuth carvers Joe Martin and Douglas David.

“Gung Haggis, Gung Haggis, Gung Haggis Fat Choy!” we heard the team cheer.  And we saw the team loading up the dragon boat team.  Elaine Yong explains that Dragon boating is part of a 1000 year tradition from China, and our team blends together Scottish history and culture.  Todd Wong (me) is interviewed and  Elaine states the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is in training for the 20th Vancouver dragon boat Festival, now North America's largest, and one of the biggest outside Hong Kong.

You can see the Global News feature on the web

Go to:
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/bc/video/index.html

Scroll down to:
WORLD CLASS BC FEB 26
fast forward to 1:34 to 2:27 for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

World Class BC Feb 26.
1) Joe Martin carves Nu-Chal-Nuth First Nations canoes
2) Douglas David carves Nu-Chal-Nuth First Nations masks
3) Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team with Todd Wong
4) Bangra Dancing with Raakhi Sinha

Additionally,
you can see the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team featured on a ZDF
German Public Television travelogue titled “Toronto to Vancouver, by
Train.” 
http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
go to the 54 minute mark to find us!

This show aired December 2007 across Europe.  The race shots were filmed at the ADBF sprint regatta.  Here's the blog story: http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/14/2881088.html

Global TV News: Todd Wong and Gung Haggis dragon boat team interviewed for story on BC's cultural diversity

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Watch GLOBAL NEWS on Tuesday Feb 26 –
6pm
TOMORROW!

Everybody knowns that BC's cultural diversity is one of the best things about living in BC.  Where else can you celebrate almost all the world's cultures worldly cuisines in a single city, go dragon boat racing, go to First Nations pow wows, enter a St. Patrick's Day parade, and learn bangra dancing?

Todd Wong (me) 
was interviewed on Feb 17th for a Global TV story celebrating BC's 150 years.

I talk about cultural diversity in BC, and am seen with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling in the background.

Cultural diversity
is the topic, Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will
represent it to Global TV viewers.  Our dragon boat team itself has a good mixture of not only Asian and Caucasian paddlers, but also one paddler with Iraqi heritage and 3 paddlers with both Asian/Caucasian DNA.

I also explain the history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, which celebrates not only the Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories of BC, but also “everything inbetween and everything beyond.”

From Global TV producer/reporter Elaine Yong:



We
did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC
a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10
responses.  To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I
thought you would be a great person to profile.  But of course, we need
some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the
dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural
diversity.  The story is scheduled to air Feb 26.


Gung Haggis dragon boat team team hits the water with a Global TV cameraman filming them to celebrate BC's cultural diversity

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We had a great practice in the sunshine today with a full 22 paddler boat and a Global TV camerman!

It was the first practice of the year, and all paddlers were enthusiastic veterans who braved the chilly February sunshine.  We were even filmed by a Global TV camerman.  Maybe it's like a dragon boat version of ground hog day…. if we can see our shadow we will have have great season of fun and medals.

It's the earliest time we've ever been out on the water.  Last year we started on the first Sunday in March with only 8 paddlers in the rain who went out in Marathon canoes.  This year it was 24 team members. 

Even the media attention has come early.  Last April, a the ADBF sprint regatta, it was a ZDF German Public television crew filming us for a travelogue documentary titled Toronto to Vancouver.  We are featured near the end of the show.  Check out:
http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
go to 54 minute mark of the 58 minute documentary to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Attending our first practice were:
returning Gung Haggis paddlers Wendy, Tzhe, Keng & Gerard, Georgia,
Julie, Ashleigh, Steven Wong & Jane, Stephen Mirowski, Joe, Emma,
Leanne, Daming, and myself…  + Lena who joined us in Oct + Raphael,
Adam & Nicole from the UA team (who had joined us for Lotus and Ft.
Langley Races) + 5 paddlers from CC Dragons Don & Paulette, Gail,
Marg, and Debbie = 24 people on the water – Wow!

We were enthusiastically enjoying the sunshine, and happy to be out paddling, stretching our muscles!

We are grateful to the CC Dragons paddlers
who are joining us, and bringing lots of experience from years of
competitive, and Rec A/B racing.  Thank you to the Gung Haggis paddlers
for making them feel welcome.  We will be inclusive, sharing
leadership, wisdom, experience, enthusiasm and lots of fun, food and
drink.

The Global TV cameraman came out
to shoot some shots of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and to
interview Todd for a story about “The Best of BC”.  Cultural diversity
is the topic, and Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will
represent it to Global TV veiwers for the story celebrating BC's 150th
Anniversary.

From Global TV producer/reporter Elaine Yong:

We
did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC
a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10
responses.  To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I
thought you would be a great person to profile.  But of course, we need
some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the
dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural
diversity.  The story is scheduled to air Feb 26 or 27,

Today was a great start
to a new Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat season.  We plan to have two
teams where new paddlers can learn from veteran paddlers, and our best
paddlers can race to their potential. 

Please remember to dress warmly,
with polypropelene underwear that will wick moisture away, windbreakers
to cut the wind chill, and bring water – as we still loose moisture
through our breath.  It's important to stay warm and hydrated – even
more so, as we are just getting started again in cold weather and many
of us have not been exercising for awhile.

Two teams for 2008 will be GREAT!
Two boats can race together on Sunday afternoon practices
Tuesday
and Wednesday 6pm practices will evolve as either advanced paddler or
technique/beginner practices… or dependent upon which night people
can attend. 

We are building flexibility into our practice schedule.
People could also paddle on one day, and help coach or steer on another day or more.

If new people would like to join they can contact me at:
gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

or phone Todd Wong
h: 604-987-7124
c: 778-846-7090

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team braved the white cap waves of Sunday's UBC Day of the Long Boats

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team braved the white cap waves of Sunday's UBC Day of the Long Boats


It's a wild start as 9 teams take off from the beach at the same time, jostling and hitting each other.  The Gung Haggis Fat Choy mixed team (center), gets a good start heading to open water… but nobody realized there was a yellow rope trailing from the canoe creating drag until steersperson Todd Wong couldn't figure out why the boat wasn't turning. – photo Dave Samis.

Boats were capsizing off Jericho Beach for Saturday's UBC Day of the Long Boats, so Sunday's community teams were limited to one race per team.

Our Community Mixed Race was rescheduled to 11:20am.  Our Gung Haggis Braveheart Warriors Mens team was rescheduled to 12:00 noon.

Our teams had fun, there were smiles on people's faces after each race.  Nobody capsized…

But during our Community MIXED race, I
was steering the boat, and it wouldn't turn right.  We bumped into a
number of boats resulting in cussing, and jostled humours, as we kept
heading away from the 1st pylon marker, towards the North Shore
Mountains.

Imagine my surprise,
when I discovered there was a long yellow rope dragging behind our
boat, acting as an anchor drag, restricting our turning abilities.  I
managed to turn our boat back on course… and reach over and pull the
long yellow rope into the boat.  We found ourselves in last place, and
worked hard to catch up to the other teams.  After picking up our
baton, we passed some more boats in the turn, passed another boat on
the long stretch – but could not catch the 1st place team False Creek
“What's the Catch?”


Gung Haggis Fat Choy mixed team struggles to pull away from the pack.  You can see the yellow rope trailing from our stern.  Todd Wong steers, while Kristine Shum is in lead stroke at the front. – photo Dave Samis.

Our Men's race was equally challenging.  Instead of 10 men, we raced our 10 most veteran paddlers including 2 women.  We jostled and bumped our way against other men's teams, went off course a bit on the baton pick up as another boat hit us.  We grabbed our baton, then took some teams on the turn.  We tried our best to catch up to TD Lightning Men… but not quite good enough.  It was a fun, race and we congratulated them, as we landed on the beach beside them.

After the races, I headed down to Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair + the Word on the Strike enhanced picket line for CUPE 391, Vancouver Library workers union. 

Our dragon boat paddlers reconvened at 5pm for a farewell party for rookie paddler Emilie Quevillon.  She joined the dragon boat team after bumping into me at the finish of the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.  She joined the team for our annual after-party at Doolin's Irish Pub, and paddled the summer with us.  Emilie was often away in her job as a flight attendant but finally paddled with us for the Vancouver Taiwanese Dragon Boat races.  Emilie was an enthusiastic and upbeat contribution to the team, bringing Montreal flair to our gatherings.  She has now returned to Montreal to re-join her musical theatre group.  No doubt team members will have a new friend to visit in Montreal for dragon boat races in August next year.

see pictures on Flickr

longboat1longboat4Longboat3longboat5

Next Race:
Saturday Oct 6th
Fort Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta.
20 teams only
3 races.

Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddles under the new Harvest Moon

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Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddles under the new Harvest Moon


Steersperson Adam Purvis waves from the back of the boat, while Gung Haggis team paddlers stretch during a break – photo Todd Wong

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team, is preparing for the Sept 30th UBC Day of the Long Boat Race.  It is the largest voyageur canoe race in North America, and designed as a recreation event for UBC students, faculty and staff.  But… there are division for community teams too!  It is a 2km course with 3 big turns.  A normal dragon boat race is only 500m.  So we are now training paddlers for endurance with 2km pieces.

We took out 2 Gemini dragon boats last night, and ran races from Dragon Zone to
Cambie St. Bridge where we took a short break to simulate a paddler jumping out to the beach during the actual Day of the Long Boat race, where they would grab a baton.

After our quick break where some paddlers shed some extra clothes, we then raced up to David Lam Park and to the point.  Along the way we set
up some obstacles for turning, like the sculpture, the buoy markers and
boats.  After a short rest to change sides, we raced back to Cambie
Street Bridge, and all the way back to Dragon Zone.

Longest race pieces we've ever done… lots of fun.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practices on Sundays 1pm and Tuesday 6pm. If you would like to join the team – contact Coach Todd Wong
email gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

We have participated in this event before with the Tacoma Dragon Boat Association Destiny Dragons:

See my past stories:

by
Todd
on Sun 02 Oct 2005

by
Todd
on Mon 04 Oct 2004 


Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team grabs flag at Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team grabs flag at Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races

Emilie Bourque-Quevillon grabs the flag for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team an instant before the Splash Test Dragons grab their flag.  It was a tight race for 4th place.  Drumming for Gung Haggis is coach Todd Wong, right side paddlers are (r-l) Wendy Lee, Hillary Wong, Julie Wong, Stephen Wong.  left side paddlers (hidden r-l) are Marlene Chamberlain, Tzhe Lam and Georgia Thorburn.

Great team work on the weekend at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races.

It was good to see so many people working together, making new friends, renewing old friendships, and meeting new challenges.

BIG
Thank yous to Captains Marlene and Julie for helping lead us into the
races… and providing and making our new team hats (that were under
constant threat of being stolen, as a pirate bounty had been put on
them).

Thank you Deb and Dave Samis for steering races for us on Sat and Sun (steering is notoriously difficult in Taiwanese boats).

OUR RACES

We
competed well.  It was a tough race field, with many comp and upper Rec
teams.  As a lower end Rec team, we matched very well against other
teams in the Nogard race, and I don't think we ever crossed a finish
line last including the Nogard.  And our barrel race was one of our
best ever!

We had good starts and grabbed our flag in our ONE
Taiwanese 500m race and although we demonstrated how challenging
steering backwards and forwards could be… there were other teams in
subsequent races, who NEVER grabbed their flag.

OUR ROSTER

A
special achievement is that our team did NOT borrow or supplement our
roster with paddlers from other teams.  Every one of our racers on the
weekend was a bonafide Gung Haggis paddler in good standing.  No drop
ins or substitutions.  This shows the levels of depth and loyalty that
our team has.  Hopefully next year, we can run two teams in the
Taiwanese Dragon Boat races.

TEAM SPORTING
ATTITUDE + TEAM BUILDING

Other
teams and DBA staff were friendly to us.  DBA dock workers Wally and Francis helped us
load/unload our disabled drummer on the dock.  And the race commentary
of Kim Tomkins gave good mention of our team.

On Sunday night,
many of us met at Doolin's Irish Pub for our FREE drink + 25% off
food.  We were served by Rachelle, and also joined by dragon boat
friends from Fluid Motion and Calgary's Draco Stealth.


TCF2007 VFK_0011.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0150.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0156.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0453.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0472.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0478.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0480.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0482.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0487.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0489.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0493.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0706.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0707.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0725.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0770.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0781.JPG


more photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157601815097689/


NEXT PRACTICE

No practice this Tuesday… stay at home and rest…  I need to rest my back. 

But if you are going to Penticton to race with GVRD – there is a practice with them on Tuesday Night and Thursday night.

Tzhe is organizing a social and cultural outing to the Vancouver Art Gallery to go see Monet to Dali
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_monet.html
It
sounds great!!!  And if you ever come to race in San Francisco with
me… I will show you the Rodin sculture “The Thinker” and Monet
“Waterlilies” at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Next Sunday's practice on Sep 9th is canceled because of “Paddle for Kids” – volunteers are welcome for this event.

Next official Gung Haggis practice is Tuesday Sept 11th. 6pm.

GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY DRAGON BOAT TEAM WRAP UP PARTY

Coming soon for September???  watch for details!!!
Awards for paddler achievements ?!?!?

volunteer organizers needed!!!

This
is the event where we created home-made haggis won-tons last year at
Dan's apartment.  We will also teach people the words to Robbie Burns
immortal poem “Address to a Haggis.”

And begin planning for
the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese
New Year Dinner, set for January 27th, 2008, Sunday.

NEXT RACE EVENTS

Sep 30 – UBC REC – Day of the Longboat
            
This is a fun but brutally competitive race that can be like contact
bumper boats. 2 km races from Jericho beach around a pylon, East to
grab a pylon from the beach, out to English Bay, around a pylon, then
west, turn left at the last pylon and race to the sand, send your
runner to bang the gong.

Oct 7 – Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta
          
This is a much friendlier version of the above race.  Only about 16 to
20 teams.  An oval to race around 2x that adds to about 1.75 km.  Plus
an obstacle race that includes chasing and grabbing a pumpkin, turning
around pylons, dropping a paddler off to balance cranberry wine on a
paddle without spilling as they walk along the beach, picking up the
paddler, more turns around pylons, then a sprint to a finish!


Pictures of Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team at the Taiwanese Cultural Festival dragon boat races

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Pictures of Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team at the Taiwanese Cultural Festival dragon boat races:

PICTURES FROM MY FRIEND VFK


TCF2007 VFK_0453.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0480.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0478.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0706.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0770.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0489.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0707.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0781.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0725.JPGTCF2007 VFK_0487.JPG



Here's some images from the shore from my friend VFK at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24064901@N00/sets/72157601815097689/

 
Those caps made it much easier for me to recognize
your team in my images.  Hopefully they didn't blow off in the wind
and slow you all down in the race.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VIDEO FROM IAN THE PIRATE
Enjoy

please pass the link to the team
 
 

Watch Out !! Pirates About!!!
www.piratepaddlers.co

Portland's Wasabi paddlers get Gung Haggis Fat Choy team dinner in Victoria for dragon boat races

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Portland's Wasabi paddlers get Gung Haggis Fat Choy team dinner in Victoria for dragon boat races

Almost every team has their own banner with a dragon on it – photo Todd Wong

Elena is one of my new friends from Wasabi Team Huge – photo Todd Wong

Victoria Dragon Boat Festival
August 18, 19

On Saturday night… I organized a Chinese dinner for 40 paddlers
from Wasabi Team Huge and Wasabi Mixed.  I brought my accordion and
taught them to sing Scottish songs and recite Robbie Burns “Address to
the Haggis” – just like last year in Victoria for the Dieselfish team, the Cultus Lake Dragonflyers and the Pirates/Gung Haggis team… Everybody loved the
dinner.  On Sunday, people kept thanking me for organizing the event,
and saying they had fun.

But no haggis… I promised to bring the haggis to Portland in January,
and organize a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for them for Robbie Burns
birthday for 2008!

I have known the Wasabi Paddling Club since 2001, when I became friends with paddler Suzi Cloutier on Wasabi Team Huge.  In 2003, I steered for Team Huge at the False Creek Women's regatta, and medaled with them at the Kent Cornucopia Races.  At the inaugural Portland Sellwood Park dragon boat races, Wasabi hosted Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, and loaned us paddlers to win medals in the recreation   division.


Wasabi Team Huge: waiting for our boat to come in.  Joyce, Jenna, Suzi and Sandra – photo Todd Wong



I had an inspiring weekend steering

and being a team member with the top women's team at the festival. 
Wasabi Team Huge…  a team that took the silver medal at the 2006 US IDBF Nationals and won gold at the World Club Crew IDBF races.

It was great to race again with Team Huge.  Sometimes being a male
addition to a women's team can be a challenge, or met with suspicion (thank goodness, I did my Women's Studies courses at college!). 
Thankfully  my friend Suzi and coach Kim spoke well of me, and led
the team with welcoming hugs.  Trust is a big factor in building a
team.  Team Huge not only welcomed me for their Victoria race, but also
paddlers from their Wasabi Mixed Recreation team – Warriors, and Wasabi
senior women's team – Power Surge, as well as a woman paddler from
Vancouver too!  Coach Kim created a powerfully strong positive atmosphere that was inclusive – something I also stress for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Team Huge finished 4th in Gold B Division – out of medal contention… but they were the top Women's team at the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival.  Next closest women's team was in bronze – 15 to 20 teams below us.

We finished #39 of 90 teams, at the bottom of the top 4 divisions… instead of being at
the top of the bottom 5 divisions.  They raced for pride, to improve
with each race, for each other, and for themselves…

Coach Kim Ketcham is great… I have known her since she was a paddler on Team
Huge in 2001.  She started coaching the team in 2003.  She teaches the
women to paddle with heart, with technique, and with control.

The team is very disciplined and responsive.  When they did their power
pieces, you could feel the boat pull forward steadily.  In our Gold B Race Final, the other mixed teams surged past us on the start.  But Team Huge caught up to 4th place Concord Flying Dragons, and passed them.  When the
team moved into their final power series, they pulled away for a 1.45 second lead
with a time of 2:27.74… a big improvement over posting a 2:33 on
Saturday morning.  In the Gold B race the winning times were:
West Shore Warriors 2:20.30 – Dog Paddlers 2:23.53 – Starbucks
Waverunners 2:24.95


Wasabi Team Huge: Anna waxes Caroline's butt before a race – photo Todd Wong


Other races:

The very top teams posted times of Kai Ikaika (with a team stacked with
False Creek paddlers) 2:03.74 – Gorging Dragons 2:04.51 – Dragonauts
2:09.39 – Sudden Impact 2:11.61

Our friends on Swordfish got silver in Diamond division with a time of
2:15.29 and Gung Haggis paddler Teresa Plesner paddled with Tacoma's Destiny Dragons to finish 2:23.24 to get 3rd place ribbon in Diamond consolation.

Manfred Preuss' Chilliwack Crusaders posted 2:24.23 to grab Bronze medals in the Silver Division

In the Crystal Division (the slowest category)
Cultus Lake Dragon Flyers got silver in Crystal 2:32.74 Gung Haggis paddler Richard Montagna paddled with False Creek Grand Dragons missed bronze
by 0.80 seconds to our friends Chix with Stix (from Tacoma).

Vernon Morning Star: Vernon home-town girl steers Gung Haggis dragon boat team to gold medal

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Vernon Morning Star: Vernon home-town girl steers Gung Haggis dragon boat team to gold medal

Deb Martin (far right) steers the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team to a beach landing.  Sitting in the boat Steven Wong  (hidden w/red hat), Cheryl McIntosh (yellow & black hat), Dan Seto (partially hidden), Jim Blathewick (big smile and blue pdf), Dave Samis (looking at camera), Jonas Ng (black sleeves), Gerry Black (partially hidden behind paddle), Leanne Riding (black hat), Richard Montagna (partially hidden with white hat), Emma Hopkins (green hair), Hyuma (black glove) – photo Ginger Snaps

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team gets some more media!  They liked the angle of home-town Vernon-raised Deb Martin, returning to Vernon and steering her dragon boat team to a gold medal in Mixed Adult B division.

Deb Martin grew up at her parents'
lakeside home on Kalamalka Lake.  She learned to canoe, kayak and
sail.  Every summer she looks forward to swimming in the lake, and is
happy to bring her dragon boat team along with her to visit her parents
and lakeside home.


Deb
Martin started paddling on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in
2003, shortly after dating Gung Haggis
dragon boat team founder Todd Wong. She now helps Wong manage the the team, and assists with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner annual fundraiser for the team which has attracted up to 570 people in past years.


Deb paddled dragon boats for her first two
years on the team, then quickly took to drumming.  Coaches Todd Wong
and Bob Brinson found her to be a quick study with a naturally inspiring
manner for the team.  This year Deb has taken over the steering job,
after spending lots of time steering the boats during practice over the
past two years. 


This was the first time she had steered a medal
finish.  On Saturday there were two 200m sprints, a 500m race and
a 1000m race with a challenging turn.   Deb steered the boat to 1st place in both the 500m semi-final and 500m final on the
Sunday.  The team has lots of confidence in Deb's abilities, and she
has even steered for other teams during races, such as last week's
Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Races held on Harrison Lake.



Todd Wong & Deb Martin, Clan Chieftain & Steers + organizers of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.

Dragon boat races make a splash

By Jennifer Dyck
Morning Star Staff

Aug 01 2007

Behind a sea of paddles digging through the waters of Kalamalka
Lake was another record year for Vernon’s third annual Dragon Boat
Festival.

The weekend-long event, which wrapped up Sunday, brought 1,090
participants to town (not to mention spouses tagging along to cheer
them on) from across B.C. and Alberta.

“We had double the teams from last year and the event may even
double again next year,” said Shawn Samol, president of the festival.

“A lot of the teams were very ecstatic, especially the ones that had never been here before. They said they’d be back for sure.”

While there was a high number of participants, the spectators on shore far outweighed those numbers throughout the weekend.

An estimated 10,000 people took in the three days of action on Kal Beach.

“The beach was pretty packed most of the day,” said Samol, who was pleased to see the community taking in the sport.

Those on board for the Sunday races were also in for a couple of events that made a big splash.

A Kelowna team capsized in the water during a race after hitting what one team member assumes was a wave.

“The drummer got dumped and the steerer fell off, and all the
women on the right side of the boat began sliding down, and then it was
a few seconds of body parts and paddles flying as the boat tipped us in
the water,” said Cheryl Wierda, from the team.

Another bit of Sunday action (a planned event) was the Good
Life Fitness Waterski Challenge. Twelve teams competed in the
challenge, with several showing their paddle power by successfully
getting a waterskier up out of the water. Calgary’s Top Made Plastics
took the winning title for that event.

Overall for the weekend’s dragon boat races, undefeated
champion Pacific Reach from Vancouver took the win for their third year
in a row in Vernon as No. 1 mix team.

In the mixed B division, Vernon-raised Deb Martin steered her team, Gung Haggis Fat Choy of Vancouver, to a gold finish Sunday.

Although Martin now lives in Vancouver, having been raised on
the shores of Kalamalka Lake gives her pride to see the dragon boat
festival reach such levels of success in her hometown.

“I am glad that Vernon has the chance to experience dragon
boating now, and I am sure it’s going to grow really big here too,” she
said.

With double the number of participants, Samol estimates this
year’s event had a spinoff of well over $2 million during the weekend.

“Plus talking to a lot of the teams they actually spent a
couple extra days in Vernon, some are still here now and some of them
are even staying for the rest of the week.”



Gold medals for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in Vernon!

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and supporters:
standing:
Bill Martin (back view) Hillary Wong, Pat martin (peeking), Wendy Lee, Craig Brown, Tzhe Lam, Jim Blatherwick, Todd Wong, Emma Hopkins, Stephen Mirowski, Jonas Ng, Steven Wong, Sandra, Jane Johnson, Dan Seto, Joanne Black, Gerry Black, Richard Montagna
sitting:
Ashleigh Dalton, Deb Martin (steers), Sarah Wong (Remus' daughter), Rebecca Wong (Remus' daughter), Hyuma, Dave Samis, Remus Wong, Leanne Riding, Cheryl McIntosh, Holly Parsons

Gold medals for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in Vernon!

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team won Rec B in Vernon Dragon Boat Races today.

On Saturday – we races two 200m sprints + one 500 m race + a demonstration 1000m race – where we got knocked around by a rogue wave, which resulted in a collision.  Another boat hit our drum broadside.  Nobody was hurt.

We had a wonderfu team BBQ + swimming + canoes at Martin's Nest on Kalamalka Lake.

Sunday, we raced hard in the Rec B semi-finals with a time of 2:26. – securing a place in the final.  Sunday afternoon we placed our best time of 2:23 – good enough for 1st place gold medal


Dragon Boat on Kalamalka Lake at Vernon Dragon Boat Race – photo Stephen Mirowski

Gung Haggis paddlers cool off in Kalamalka Lake (l-r) Leanne, Jonas,
Wendy, Ashleigh, Tzhe, Hillary, Todd and Jim – photo Stephen Mirowski

Jonas Ng and Wendy Lee – 2nd year Gung Haggis paddlers – photo Stephen Mirowski

Stephen Mirowski – our captain and drummer – photo Dave Samis courtesy of S. Mirowski

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in Vernon July 29th, 2007 – photo Raymond Kwong

pictures & more details to follow.