New World Capital for Dragonboating

Where Dragonboating is “At”

Okay, so there may be a little exaggeration here – but not a lot. Pemberton’s Laoyam Eagles Junior Dragonboat team swept all but 2 of 9 gold medals in the Junior category. True, the best Junior teams (18 years or under) from Asia and Europe were not present at the meet. And the Balmy Beach teams split their young paddlers among 3 very good teams – West Rouge, Pickering Dragonboat Elite, and Pickering Dragons. But considering the population base of 2200 versus at least 100 times that for the Balmy Beach teams – the results are very impressive.

Even more so when one considers the performance of say the Laoyam Junior Women in the 200M race. Their time would have placed them 3rd among 10 Senior Women’s crews and 5th among 11 Premier Womens crews. Not too shabby.

Note to the 2010 Canadian Winter Olympic “Put-More-Canadians -on-the-Podium” Committee. Check out what they are doing about 100km North of Vancouver – and if it is the water, bottle it. But seriously, in a country that is following the North American model of “super-sizing” our youth to the point that obesity is near an epidemic, Pemberton appears to be doing something very right in terms of youth and athletic excellence. Might be worth a)investigating, b)imitating and c)tooting your/their horn about.

Pemberton’s Impressive Paddlers – their Cups Runneth Over

(c)JBSurveyer 2006