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IBCPC President Meri Gibson’s report to IDBF Council

Sarasota, July 2022Report for 45th IDBF Council Meeting, 8th July 2022 on behalf of the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission (IBCPC)It gives me pleasure to present this report.I must first acknowledge the passing of Jane Frost the Founding President of the IBCPC. Jane had played an enormous role in the development of breast cancer dragon boating globally. She had been diagnosed with a secondary some years ago but chose to live her life fully in the ensuing years.As I sat and authored ...

Inaugural Bahamas Chinese Dragon Boat Festival

Goodman’s Bay, Nassau, Bahamas, Aug 20 and 21, 2022 from a Canadian perspectiveSubmitted by Linda Kuska, Team Captain Rowbust BCS Team, London, Ontario, Canada and IBCPC DirectorI had the pleasure of participating in this amazing adventure but with a double role. As a fairly new Director on the IBCPC Board, I started on the Board when the pandemic started so I have never had the opportunity to do any Outreach traveling and representing the IBCPC until this summer. And I was also with my Rowbus...

New Teams

From Betty SolleyWe welcome the following teams to our global family.Picam Dragon Boat Team, Barcelona, Spain...

Picam’s Dragons Team – Barcelona, Spain

Picam's Dragons is a team of Dragon Boat breast cancer survivors, created in February 2019 with great enthusiasm but with little success since the beginning, and it had very few participants, then with the arrival of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the training had to be suspended.After almost two years of forced break, the team resumed training in September 2021 in the port of Badalona, but some of the former participants did not return. There were only four left from the first team, so we needed to pus...

Rosa dos Ventos (Rose of the Winds)

In their own words we hear from one off our newest Brazilian teams.A strong, imposing name that means “safe direction for those who trust it” – that’s the spirit of our Dragon Boat paddling team in Londrina, Paraná (Brazil). The search for better quality of life was what motivated us to organize another project chapter of Dr. Don McKenzie, which also became a place for experience sharing amongst breast cancer survivors in Londrina.In 2020, after several lectures and meetings discussing ...

Stories from the UK

UK PaddlingSubmitted by Wendy GroseThe UK have had a difficult time getting back to normality after Covid, clubs are now back paddling but events in the UK have not been happening and some paddlers are still worried about travelling abroad.Wave Walkers based in London went to Venice to take part in the Vogalonga, the team included ladies from other BCS teams from across the UK.Pink Champagne also took a full boat to Venice to take part in the Venice festival on the Saturday and compete in the Vo...

Women as a Powerhouse

Submitted by Cosmina GrigoreAt Imunis, the belief is that a woman is a powerhouse. She rises constantly to her truths. We believe that as a woman heals herself, she becomes a healing woman. Womanhood after cancer is possible, it is proof that women are powerhouses. That women can rise together and as they do, they generate a force so beautiful, so powerful it makes them undeniable.Womanhood after cancer is the Imunis legacy. A unique program designed to help women in Romania see themselves diffe...

13th IDBF Club Crew

13th IDBF Club Crew World Dragon Boat Championships, Nathan Benderson Park (NBP), Sarasota, Florida.Competition days are: Tuesday 19th July - Sunday 24th July 2022We know this stunning venue very well having held our IBCPC Festival there in October 2014. NBP has become a world class facility and we know that all of the teams will have a fabulous time competing at this wonderful venue.IDBF Information bulletin number three is complimentary to information bulletin number one and two. These bulleti...

Argentina Today

We wish to thank our National Representative Lia del Prado for this incredibly comprehensive update of the teams in Argentina.Argentina is becoming beautifully PINK.The purpose of the IBCPC in Argentina is to promote and disseminate information about groups and sports or recreational rowing teams in Dragon Boat, or in any other kind of boat where we carry out the motto "Exercise is Medicine" (sport is health / medicine).The exponential growth of women with a history of Breast Cancer who continue...

EDBF CCWC Championships

Welcome to Lake Banyoles!Come join us and have fun with your crew family and friends!Club crews and individuals from anywhere in the world are welcome!Located in the province of Girona (northeastern Catalonia) Banyoles was the first destination certified in Sports Tourism by the Catalan Tourist Agency in 2003. This seal of quality recognises the tourist destination for offering high-quality resources and services aimed at elite, professional, amateur and tourist sportspeople who want to practise...

Facebook Update

Do you follow IBCPC in Facebook?The IBCPC Facebook page is yet another way to stay connected with all happenings across the globe, in relation to dragon boat paddling for breast cancer survivors.Next time you are on Facebook, make sure you get on to the IBCPC Facebook page, like it and follow all the wonderful news.Below are a few statistics on the IBCPC page:...

From the desk of the President

June 2022Well, it has certainly been a very busy few months since we last spoke to you, with lots of correspondence and meetings and in particular working towards ensuring that our National Representatives are well supported in their work.To this end we have been developing a series of power point supporting documents’ to be used in presentations. We have also developed a presentation that shows the structures that exist between ourselves, IDBF, the IDBF Continental Federations and the Nationa...

Germany update

Update from Patricia re all the new teams in Germany.Since 2013 I have been in charge of Pink Paddling out of DKV, the community has been growing and the interest in starting new teams is not diminishing. In 2015 I was able to create a first map, with 11 existing teams and 2 start-ups, today in 2022 we count 27 teams and 4 start-ups.Around 2011 there were the first two teams in Germany, one in Bochum and one in Schierstein. Through the work in the DKV, we know about all the pink teams and they a...

IDBF and Anti-Doping

Anti-Doping Newsletter from the Medical Commission Chair...

Israel Hip Hop Competition

What does hip hop have to do with dragon boat paddling, well as it turns out way more than you may think.The world is a very small place and it’s just gotten a little bit smaller as this story will help you to understand.On a regular zoom call between Meri Gibson and Orit Ziv-Ackerman (Israeli national representative) going through an update about what was happening in Israel, Orit mentioned to Meri that some professional dance instructors wanted to hold a hip-hop dance competition and that th...

Ka-Ora rises up...

Ka-Ora rises up and builds multiple teams.From Fabio Paiva, Founder of the Ka-Ora project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.I recently visited the wonderful girls from Argentina, at the meeting they had in Chocon. Then I also went to meet the girls from Bariloche. I was very well received by everyone, making me even more motivated to continue working hard on this project.We are ready to enroll Ka-Ora teams in the IBCPC. We have found our independence, as at first, we were linked to the Cancer Institute, but ...

Lockdown life in China

An insight into quarantine in China with our National Representative Beirong (Bei) Xiong and her husband David Shanks.In total Bei and David spent 39 days in quarantine in Shanghai and then another 14 days when they arrived in Beijing. A total of 53 days. What would have been daunting for most people became an adventure for them both. Their Day 21 message to family and friends gives a glimpse of lockdown life.Thank you for all your updates from home. Yep, any amount of no news is good news these...

Medical Initiative

Medical initiative taken by the team UGO from Padova, Italy.We are very impressed by this initiative and encourage other teams to be as assertive in ensuring they receive the best medical care possible.Dragon Boat to start over after the illness: "U.G.O. – Unite Gareggiamo Ovunque ” team train with the “ Lymphatic Drainage Centre ” of Padova - Italy.In Italy we are lucky to have excellent centres for the treatment of oncological diseases, able to follow the patients with the highest prof...

Pink Warriors

Pink Warriors Panama Participation 6th Dragon Boat Race, Chinese New Year 2022We were very happy to have had the opportunity to participate again in a Festival organized by the Chinese Community in Panama. On this occasion the 6th Dragon Boat Race, commemorating the Chinese New Year, on February 12 and 13, 2022, in the Amador Causeway area in Panama City.Our participation was always under the established biosafety standards and the vaccination schedule required by the organizers, to remain in a ...

Rosa dos Ventos (Rose of the Winds)

In their own words we hear from one off our newest Brazilian teams.A strong, imposing name that means “safe direction for those who trust it” – that’s the spirit of our Dragon Boat paddling team in Londrina, Paraná (Brazil). The search for better quality of life was what motivated us to organize another project chapter of Dr. Don McKenzie, which also became a place for experience sharing amongst breast cancer survivors in Londrina.In 2020, after several lectures and meetings discussing ...

Rosas del Plata, Tigre Paddlers

Rosas del Plata, Tigre paddlers journey to Bariloche to compete in the women's division.The New Zealand BCS 2023 Festival is coming soon! And we are very excited with the final countdown (a little under one year and we will fly to another continent, to meet other Pink Paddler mates from all around the world).In the meantime, we are training hard and we try to participate in as many Argentinian Dragon Boat races as possible. There are few opportunities here because the Dragon Boat sport is fairly...

South East USA

The newest team from the South East of the USA shares their paddling story.Better Watch Out: There’s a new team in town and it’s hell.The Southeast USA Region is going to be “Hell” to recon with this year. Our newest team, Hell Gate Sea Dragons is the first and only dragon boat team in Martin County, Florida, launching in February 2020 on the St. Lucie River in Palm City Florida. Even though COVID hit us and we all had to pause our water activities, this new team stayed together by kayak...

The Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago

Outreach in The Bahamas and Trinidad & TobagoThe opportunity to undertake an outreach certainly came very much out of the blue with a request from the PanAm Dragonboat Federation who have been involved in the establishment of the very new Bahamas Chinese Dragonboat Association (BCDBA). BCDBA have been gifted eight Dragonboats to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Chinese-Bahamas Association. The gifted boats were due to arrive on 8 May and as part of that we were asked to be involved in...

The next IBCPC Festival!

So many of you are looking forward to the IBCPC Festival in New Zealand next year.But what is going to happen with the next one, where will it be held?In the past, we have held a meeting at the festival, for those who are interested in being the next host. Then once the bids have been evaluated the announcement is made via email/social media.For the 2026 Festival, we will be doing it a little differently. We will be hosting virtual workshops for those interested or considering hosting the next F...

Update from France

I am sending you a few updates about the "United Ladies" river trip we have organized for this summer in France.As you might know, the adventure we set up in August has met with a huge success, registrations were full only 24 hours after we opened them. As organizers, we felt very frustrated to "refuse" or swipe to the waiting list so many late registration enquiries.The United Ladies adventure is one of those we'd like to share with as many persons as possible. So, we've been working on organiz...