Join a dragon boat team that specializes in multicultural and community activities:
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team
Emilie grabs the flag at the 2007 Vancouver Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. – photo VFK
Hope you can join us for a wonderful
season of dragon boat paddling. 2008 was an AWESOME year
for the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.
This team balances paddling with fun social and cultural events, with an emphasis on multiculturalism.
The team has won medals in Vancouver, Victoria, Portland OR, and Vernon.
We have also raced at Harrison, Kent WA, and Cultus Lake.
And… the team has been featured on local, national and international television such as:
Global TV, CBC TV, ZDF Germany, France 3.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practices
Sundays 11am – 1pm
Tuesdays begin March 17 St. Patrick’s Day
at 6:00 sharp to 7:45 pm
All practices are from Dragon Zone, at Creekside Park
Southeast corner of False Creek
look for Green trailer building
South of Science World – just above aqua bus ferries.
Parking – park on the street. Try Quebec or 2nd Ave.
pay parking available at Science World – no parking on city lot anymore.
Price for Spring paddling is $105 each, and will cover boat rental, coaching, and paddling until November.
Other races cost additional.
Price for Summer paddling is aproximately $120 each, and
will cover boat rental, coaching, plus registration for one summer
race. Additional summer races are aproximately $30-$80 each.
We will definitely race the following, as we have for many years…
May 2 Lotus Sports Club “Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta” (Burnaby)
June 7 Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat regatta
June 20-21 Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – Vancouver
July 25/26 GreaterVernon Dragon Boat Festival (Kalamalka Lake, Vernon BC)
Sept 5/6 Vancouver
International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race (Vancouver)
UBC Day of the Long Boats
Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta
other races to consider – depending on interest
April 25 200m Dash – Deep Cove, North Vancouver
July 11th Kent-Seattle
Dragon Boat Races (Lake Meridien, Kent WA),
July 19 Richmond Dragon Boat Festival – UBC Boathouse, Richmond,
Aug 14/15 15th Annual Victoria Dragon Boat Festival – Inner Harbour, Victoria, BC, Canada
2008 highlights include:
FEB: We started the 2008 season by having our first practice filmed for a Global TV news story about the Best in BC as part of a news
series highlighting what makes BC world class. We represented cultural
diversity!
https://www.gunghaggis.com/blog/_archives/2008/2/28/3551687.html
MARCH: we put some Chinese dragons and lions into the Celtic Fest’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
In the first three years of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, we have put a
Taiwanese dragon boat into the parade,
APR: We hosted Vancouver’s Tartan Day Celebration with a proclamation reading by the deputy mayor Raymond Louie
MAY: We won the team spirit award at the Lotus Sports Club Bill Alley regatta.
JUNE: We improved to Rec C at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Race.
JULY/AUG : We raced in finals in Vernon and the Vancouver Taiwanese dragon boat races.
OCT: And… we placed both boats in the A Final of the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta.
Our highlights from 2007 included winning a gold medal in B division at
the 3rd annual Greater Vernon Dragon Boat Festival, held on Kalamalka
Lake. This is one of our favorite races, and we plan to be returning
to “lake of many colours.”
In 2007, we raced 7 dragon boat races + 2 voyageur canoe races. We were filmed for German Public Television ZDF for the program “Toronto to Vancouver by Train” http://wstreaming.zdf.de/zdf/veryhigh/071219_toronto_vancouver.asx
a) We became the poster faces for Kilts Night at Doolin’s Irish Pub, every 1st Thursday each month.
b) We raced at the Lotus Sports Club dragon boat regatta at Burnaby’s Barnet Marine Park
c) UBC Day of the Long Boat – 8 voyageur canoes bumping into each other
d) Two Gung Haggis teams at the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe regatta – our beginner/fun team beat our advanced paddlers!
Will we have 1 or 2 teams?
One
team is now confirmed for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival – but if
enough new people come on board, we can expand to two teams –
Recreation and Beginner.
We
have a lot of people returning + some experienced paddlers, and we have lots of
interest from wanna-be paddlers.
Please
invite friends to come out to try dragon boating over the next two
weeks, before the boat starts going TOO FAST!
contact me by e-mail: gunghaggisdragon at g mail dot com
home phone: 604 -987- 7124
Cheers, Todd Wong
www.gunghaggis.com/blog/GungHaggisdragonboatteaminformation
Pictures from 2005
1)
Drummer Todd with Flag Grabber Ed on The Eh? Team at Taiwanese Dragon
Boat Race, featured in a 2007 scholastic textbook – “Literacy in Action”
2) Todd with Dave Samis, at Sea Vancouver Festival for dragon head carving tent
