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Adrenaline is pumping on the water today as the 10th annual Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival takes place at Tugboat Bay.
“You just get shaking,” said Kelowna Dragon Boat Society President Becky Marks. “The adrenaline is pumping so fast.”
Marks said that the boats the society uses for practice weigh approximately 2,500 pounds, but the ones they race in are only about 500.
“They’re very, very tippy. So it’s just that, you know, that adrenaline: ‘We don’t want to tip the boat – it’s the first race!’ Once the first race is done, everybody kind-of takes a breath.”
Dragon boating in the Okanagan has been popular for some years. The Kelowna Festival is small today, but Marks said that, about eight years ago, it was the hub for the sport in the Okanagan.
“When it first came around, we had anywhere between 100 and 150 teams that came out to our festival, and then over the years it did kind-of dwindle off. We’re just trying to build it back up.”
The Dragon Boat Festival may be smaller than it was, but teams have still come from as far as Lethbridge to compete on Okanagan Lake this weekend.
Races running on Saturday include three 200-metres, a modified “guts and glory” event, a four o’clock corporate race in which the City of Kelowna will compete, and a “try it” event at three. Then on Sunday, there will be two 500-metre races at noon and a breast cancer-focused ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
The Kelowna Dragon Boat Society (KBDS) began in 1999 and recently incorporated as a non-profit group. Society President Becky Marks is encouraging everyone who is interested in it to give the sport a go. You can contact KDBS through their website.
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