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Festival Between Festivals

Uniting Survivors and Supporters Through Sport, Culture, and Celebration.  Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  Breast cancer dragon boat paddling has emerged as a powerful movement, bringing together survivors, supporters, and communities around the globe. In Central and Latin America, where vibrant cultures and warm communities thrive, participatory festivals centred around dragon boating have become catalysts for healing, empowerment, and awareness. This arti...

Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast

This year marked a special milestone for Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast in Queensland Australia - 20 years of paddling with heart, friendship, and purpose.To celebrate two decades of paddling, members past and present came together over a memorable anniversary weekend that perfectly captured the spirit of our club - camaraderie, colour, and community.The festivities began with a 20th Anniversary Dinner Dance, where the room shimmered in shades of pink. There was laughter, dancing, and plenty of ...

Editor's Report

Submitted by Louise Granahan.  Yesterday, I took part in a ritual performed by Canadians from coast to coast.  I switched over my clothes.  Summer clothes went into storage in the basement, and the winter gear moved upstairs.  I said a fond farewell to my paddling clothes until April, when they will once again resurface. With the change of the clocks, darkness has descended again, and I must now think of something else to do to take the place of paddling, just as te...

Chile Dragon Boat Festival

Submitted by Paula Farías.  We have experienced in Chile a great celebration of companionship, teamwork, respect, humility, generosity, and above all, sisterhood.  The 3rd Dragon Boat Festival was organized by the Fortale-Senos Chile team in alliance with the Confucius Institute of Santo Tomás University and the Embassy of China in Chile.At the Carén Park lagoon, for the first time, we brought together 300 breast cancer survivors who love this sport and have made it an importan...

Pink Paddle Power

Submitted by Sharon Cooper, DAA Board Director.  More than 350 paddlers, supporters and friends gathered on the Gold Coast, Queensland, for Pink Paddle Power 2025, celebrating survivorship, connection and community. From the Meet and Flamingle to the Regatta, Social Paddle, Gala Dinner and Convention, the weekend was full of pink feathers, joy and inspiration. Hosted by Dragons Abreast Gold Coast, Dragons Abreast Wollumbin and Dragons Abreast Australia, the weekend sought to connect pa...

President's Report

Submitted by Meri Gibson.  Greetings everyone from a beautiful spring day here in Christchurch, New Zealand. As we embark on another exciting dragon boat season, I wanted to share some updates and highlights with you.I am so happy that the Dragonboat season has started again. I am loving my coaching journey that I am on it makes me see paddling in a whole different light and be a little bit more forgiving as people learn and grow as they develop along the pathway. I have certainly...

News from Germany - Dresden

On Saturday, September 20th, 80 breast cancer paddlers and friends from across Germany (Bochum, Dresden, Hamburg, Hannover, Heilbronn, Jena, Leipzig, Schierstein, Wolfsburg and Worms) met at the clubhouse WSV Blaues Wunder, home of the pink paddlers Dresden, to spend the beautiful sunny autumn day together.Mixed in 4 dragonboats, they started on a “field trip” on the River Elbe, paddling from the blue bridge known as the blue wonder to Pillnitz Palace, taking a break for coffee and cake on t...

Continents Collaborating

Submitted by JoAnn Moore, IBCPC Southeast USA Representative.  We caught a rare glimpse of three of our IBCPC Representatives, JoAnn Moore of North America, Wendy Grose of Northern Europe, and Orit Ziv-Ackerman of Southeast Asia brainstorming at the Cyprus International Dragon Boat Regatta, October 11-12, 2025...

Countries Going to IBCPC France 2026

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  Some of you have been asking which countries and the names of teams that are attending the festival in 2026. As some teams are still reshuffling their numbers and team names and with the dates announced for the IDBF club crew world championships there has been some further movement of team numbers. We did not want to publish the team names just yet until that is totally finalised, however we are very happy to share with you the countri...

Busting Out Ottawa

Submitted by Jennifer Greene.  From paddles to petals, our team made waves on land! Busting Out paddlers surprised teammate Nikki Bedard with a wedding-day paddle arch that turned heads in downtown Ottawa.On Saturday, September 20, 2025, in downtown Ottawa, 25 members of the Busting Out Ottawa Dragon Boat Club gathered outside the Lord Elgin hotel to create a stunning paddle arch in celebration of teammate Nikki Bedard’s wedding at the National Arts Centre across the street. The...

IBCPC Merchandise

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  IBCPC is thrilled to announce our merchandise partnership with Regatta Sport.Regatta Sport Is a Canadian company who manufacture their merchandise in Canada. They will be well known to many of you, particularly in the northern hemisphere, as they have produced clothing merchandise for the USA national team, the Canadian national team, and were also the merchandise partner at the recent IDBF world championships in Brandenburg Germany.&n...

News from Argentina

Submitted by Matilde Yahni.  ** Note from Meri Gibson, IBCPC President I very affectionately recall visiting Buenos Aires in October 2016 when the new team of Rosas Del Plata had only just formed less than a year earlier. We had the opportunity to speak to several medical people, the media and breast cancer survivors. Dr Don McKenzie and I also made television appearances and conducted interviews. It was fantastic to see the team celebrate its 10th anniversary on 11/11/25.The orig...

Dragons Abreast Australia

Submitted by Sharon Cooper, Board Member, Dragons Abreast Australia (DAA).   The pink paddles were out in full force at the Australian Masters Games in Canberra from 18th – 20th October 2025, with Dragons Abreast Australia (DAA) members coming together from across Australia to race, connect, and celebrate everything that makes our community so special. The banks of Lake Burley Griffin was the perfect setting for   the breast cancer paddlers to enjoy three days of conne...

Amazing Donation for Metastatic Research

Respectfully shared by Meri Gibson.  As we know many of our cohort of breast cancer survivor paddlers become metastatic and we agree with the comments from Elaine Saverin that they are often left on the margins of treatment.This donation will make an amazing difference in research and modalities of care. Please do read it as it is a wonderful donation and article.Read here: AMAZING DONATION...

IDBF World Championships

Submitted by Meri Gibson.  Following the success of the inclusion of the breast cancer paddler category in the IDBF world Championships in Brandenberg, Germany this year, we assessed the ruling we introduced into the IDBF Rules of racing. We felt it would be pertinent to slightly change the wording so that it removed the need to have an annual diagnosis because as we know it is not a disease that ever goes away, it is a diagnosis for life. We also wanted to remove the need to confirm a...

Pink Paddlers Koblenz

Submitted by Pink Paddlers Koblenz and Karina Schuh.  This year, we created a very special campaign during Pinktober in Koblenz: “Pink Paddler – A Photo Campaign about Strength, Solidarity and Life after Breast Cancer.”It is more than a photoshoot – it is a statement. A statement for life, for resilience, for hope, for strength, for femininity, and for life after a breast cancer diagnosis.On September 18, 2025 we met at our paddling area: ten strong women from the team Pink Pad...

Global Health and Pharma

After carefully reviewing your supporting information and completing our internal assessment, I am pleased to be in touch today with some exciting news.Following our merit-led research and evaluation process International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission has been recognised as the deserving recipient of:Healthy Lifestyle & Inclusion Organisation of the Year 2025The Women’s Health Awards 2025, proudly hosted by Global Health & Pharma, mark an exciting new chapter in championing ex...

News from Germany - Pink Power

September 26 marks an important date for breast cancer paddling in Germany, as the film “Pink Power” premiered in a special movie theatre, the Kulturbrauerei (a historic brewery used as a cultural center nowadays) in Berlin – a truly powerful story of two strong women and their team, the Küsten Pinkies from Wilhelmshaven.Jasmin and Konni who both live in the far North of Germany volunteered to open their very different lives and stories to the young directors and producers Chiara and Mari...

IBCPC Board's Year In Review

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  Over the past year or so, the IBCPC board has undertaken significant efforts to review and enhance its foundational documents and strategic plans. This comprehensive review was initiated from the 2023 Congress and has continued to shape the board's direction and priorities.Review of the Constitution and By-LawOne of the primary focuses of the IBCPC board this year has been the meticulous review of the layout of the constitution and by-...

Survivors Abreast Peterborough

On October 21st, 2025, Survivors Abreast Peterborough and the Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival planning committee were recognized by the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation (PRHCF) for our philanthropical efforts and community spirit. In 2022, the team and the festival planning committee, pledged to raise 500 thousand dollars over 3 years in support of the PRHCF reImagine Health Care campaign, specifically, in the area of cancer care. It was a milestone we weren’t sure we ...

Letter to IDBF re Festival Timing

An open letter to the IDBF regarding concerns about the timing of the Club Crew World Championships in 2026.This overlaps with the dates of our 2026 IBCPC Participatory Dragon Boat Festival and poses significant challenges for our members.Please download below to read:...

Global Health Award!

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  I am deeply honoured and surprised to have been given this recognition. Whilst it is me that is being honoured it is a global effort from everyone that this recognition has come about. Our story is spreading so quickly around the globe and it is super exciting to be part of this adventure every single day. “ EXERCISE IS MEDICINE.” ...

Doha Wireless Warriors

The Doha Wireless Warriors started 12 years ago in Doha, Qatar after its founder, Sandee Thompson, was recovering from a bilateral mastectomy for a recurrence of breast cancer. What started as a once weekly paddle of survivors and supporters in a rented boat soon turned into three and sometimes seven days a week worth of sessions in our own two boats… Accidentally…. inadvertently….we’ve become a force to be reckoned with in our community. We do a lot of awareness-building workshops and t...

Indy SurviveOars Pink Paddle Party

Yee-Haw! The Indy SurviveOars held their annual Gala fundraiser known as the Pink Paddle Party on October 17, 2025. This year’s theme was Saddle Up & Give Cancer the Boot! Over 260 sponsors, donors and guests brought out their cowboy hats and fancy boots for a rustic and fun evening of dinner, line dancing, exciting silent and live auctions, delicious dessert dash and a chance to win $1000 worth in gift cards all to celebrate and raise funds for the Indy SurviveOars dragon boat team from I...

Congratulations

Submitted by Meri Gibson, IBCPC Global President.  The board of IBCPC wishes to congratulate IDBF President Claudio Schermi on his election to the board of AIMS. This is a four year term and we are sure that in his term Claudio will be campaigning for the inclusion of Dragon boating as an Olympic sport. IDBF NEWS RELEASE:IDBF President Claudio Schermi Elected to AIMS Council for a Four-Year TermOctober 30, 2025News Release (#2025-14)Lausanne, Switzerland – 27 October 2025. The A...