Do you have a story about your team or festival you’d like to share in future versions of the newsletter? Let us know, we’d love to learn more about our community! We plan on publishing a newsletter four times a year and have a team and festival section for you all to share your stories.
Photo by Winston Chen on Unsplash
A list of the major races hosted by 22Dragons in Montreal can be found here. These races are hosted in collaboration with H2O Playground under the banner of Mission Dragon Boat.
22Dragons also works with close to 35 different communities and charities in Canada and United states (through 22Dragons USA Inc) towards the production of the events. If you’re looking for an out of town experience, check out the list!
22Dragons is gearing up for its 21st season of dragon boating on the Lachine Canal! This summer we are pleased to welcome Emily Yang as our new assistant club manager. Emily will be overseeing the club grounds and staff, and managing our introductory and intermediate dragon boat programs. Emily has been paddling and coaching for over 5 years, was a member of the 2023 Canadian 24&Under national team, and graduated from McGill University with a business degree. She will be working with head coach Matt Smith, and general manager Lyne Lariviere in the running of the club.
Registration information for our 4-week trial trial and our seasonal programs can be found here. Our trial programs are specifically designed for new paddlers wanting to try the sport. Paddlers can then move onto one of our season programs, which are available in a variety of levels. Questions can be directed to Emily Yang via email: club@22dragons.com
You may also want to register as a group and form your own team. Dragon boat is a great team building activity for companies or other groups. One time activities or seasonal options are available. Contact Lyne Lariviere for information.
Corporate and community member crews can contact Lyne Lariviere to finalize their summer practice schedules.
Members of our competitive programs will receive information through their program managers in the near future.
After 21 long years the Rockfield Overflow Basin (Trops-Plein Rockfield) is set to come on line. The overflow basin is located in Ville St-Pierre and will capture excess sewage water in the case of heavy rainfalls. In the past an overflow would cause an automatic 72-hour shut-down of the Lachine canal. The new basin will reduce the frequency of overflows from 4-8 times a year to once every 5 years.
2023 was a big year for the competitive club. 22Dragons won the 2023 overall national championships, its 7th since 2009. The 2023 charge was led by our youth, where both the 24&Under and 18&Under teams captured their respective divisional titles. Great job to all the paddlers of those programs, and their coaches, Mike Wu, Laurie-Anne Dancause, and Chris Wong for 24U, and Chris Wegrzyn and Emily Yang for 18U.
Nationals results recap:
Std = Standard 20 person boat, Sm = Small 10 person boat
* Division winner
18U*: Women (Sm) 1st, Mixed (Sm) 1st & 4th, Open (Sm), 2nd & 4th
24U*: Women (Std) 1st, Mixed (Std) 1st, Open (Std) 2nd
Premier: Women (Std) 3rd, Mixed (Std) 3rd, Open (Std) 4th
Senior A: Women (Std) 4th, Mixed (Std 1st), Open (Sm) 2ndSenior B: Women (Std) 6th, Mixed (Std) 3rd, Open (Std) 3rd
Senior C: Women (Sm) 1st, Mixed (Sm) 1st
Full results here
2023 was also highlighted by 22Dragons’ athletes and coaches playing a prominent role in Team Canada’s success at the 2023 World Nations Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. A special mention to 22Dragons’ premier coaches Wendi Zhou and Matt Smith, who are also program directors for the premier national team that captured dragon boating’s ultimate prize, the Nation’s Cup, awarded to the top overall premier team. A list of 22Dragons’ athletes and staff who were part of the 2023 team can be found here. A recap of the event written by DBC president Scott Murray and Matt Smith can be found here
Matt Smith also had the honor of presiding over the championships due to the unfortunate absence of IDBF president Mike Thomas. Mike could not attend for medical reasons and so Matt who has served as an IDBF Vice President for 10 years was called on to represent the IDBF in ceremonies and to lead the annual Congress. He did a fine job representing, and we’re happy to report today that Mike Thomas’ health is improving.
Photos by EdNguyen Photography and Jeff Holubeshen
22Dragons’ annual training camp in Myrtle Beach, SC is sold out with 160 participants! The camp takes place over 2 weeks. Athletes stay primarily at the Avista resort and paddle on the intercoastal water-water out of Anchor Marina. This year’s participants come not just from 22Dragons, but Philadelphia PN, Burlington VT, Pittsburgh PN, Three Rivers QC, Quebec City QC, and Ottawa ON.
