Avalon Dragon Boating started in the spring of 2006 when breast cancer activist and fundraiser Betty Ann Vater brought friends and colleagues together to bring dragon boating to Newfoundland and Labrador breast cancer survivors. At that time, Newfoundland and Labrador was one of only two provinces without a dragon boating team. From that first meeting, a group of committed volunteers decided to bring the sport to this province.
On October 30, 2006 Avalon Dragon Boating "unleashed the dragon", announcing their presence in the community with an exciting kick-off at the Johnson Geo Centre in St. John's and a call to breast cancer survivors to join our team. Within months, nearly 60 women in the area had joined Avalon Dragon Boating.
Early in 2007, construction began on the first dragon boat. Under the patient and supportive direction of naval architect Bruce Whitelaw, the team sawed and hammered their way towards the water. On May 28, 2007, a keel laying ceremony was held at MacDonald Drive Junior High School in St. John's, the site of the Avalon Dragon Boating "boat yard". In keeping with maritime tradition, the keel was signed by Bruce, the master boat builder, and all of the team members. Two coins were embedded in the keel for good luck: the team chose to use the special edition breast cancer ribbon quarters issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2006.
We voted to call ourselves the Avalon Dragons and on July 8, 2008, our President Julie Bettney, together with Paradise Mayor Ralph Wiseman, announced our new home – beautiful Octagon Pond in Paradise. Mayor Wiseman called us “the brightest stars in Paradise”.
At that same press conference, we launched our pink practise boat, bought for us and donated by three wonderful sponsors – Rennie So, owner of the Magic Wok restaurant in St. John’s, Terri Andrews, president of TADA Events and co-producer of “Our Divas” shows (and one of our three terrific coaches), and Terri’s co-producer Sheilah Guy Murphy.
It was either swim out to the boat or build a dock, so team member Barb Wakeham sprung into action, expediting building permits. The Newfoundland and Labrador Road Builders Association took charge of site preparation, set up a trailer for storing our boats and built us two beautiful docks. We couldn’t restrain ourselves from painting the docks pink.
Friday, August 8, 2008, after just a few weeks of practice, we flew to Halifax where we boarded two buses for New Glasgow to take part in our first festival competition. We were treated like honoured guests by our New Glasgow hosts and did not disappoint in our races. We came second in one and third in a nearly photo finish in another. We celebrated, we shed tears on the water during the moving rose petal ceremony, and we became even closer as team members and friends.
Barb Wakeham insured our immortalization when she penned “The Song of the Avalon Dragons”, sung to the tune of “I’se Da B’ye” that rang out over the loudspeaker as we got ready for our first race:
We're the gals that built the boat
And we’re the gals that paddles her
We're the gals that showed the world
We're breast cancer survivors
CHORUS
Hip to your partner on the seat
Hip to your partner row on row
Paddles ready, paddles up
Hit the water, let her go
On a sunny Sunday, September 14, 2008, together with 500 well wishers, we launched our beautiful wooden boat. The boat had been handcrafted over hundreds of hours by a core group of boat builders carefully and painstakingly guided every step of the way by Bruce Whitelaw. With music, speeches, dragon dancing by members of the local Chinese community, and a traditional ceremony to awaken the dragon followed by a rose petal ceremony launch, our wooden boat gracefully glided over the pond, paddled by that dedicated core group of boat builders.
We practiced on the water into October and have tried to keep fit over the winter. We have held regular paddler meetings and board meetings to help steer our team to another wonderful season of paddling.
We invite you to attend our events, help with fundraising and activities, become a sponsor, and if you are a breast cancer survivor, we invite you to become a paddler and join us in this adventure in fun and fitness.
Come back to our website often and be sure to check out our Special Events section, photo galleries, and find out what the Avalon Dragons are up to.
