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News from Austria and Germany

by Svenja Franke-Bruhn, Country Liaison Austria and National representative GermanyVienna Pink Dragons, AustriaThe Vienna Pink Dragons enjoyed a busy sunny summer not only with regularly training on the Alte Donau and a number of full moon paddles, but also a fun Muddy Dragon Day held at the club including many games and of course good food to share. We all thoroughly enjoyed these get-togethers, especially after the difficulties of the last year and the many COVID restrictions....

Paddling with Hope: Strength and Sisterhood in a Dragon Boat

We started our 15th year in 2021 thinking we would not be able to get back in the boats for the second year in a row due to COVID. Yet, we ended the paddling season, 88 members strong, with an awesome opportunity to kick-off Breast Cancer Awareness Month with breast cancer survivors and fellow dragon boat paddlers across the nation.Our team, The Dragon Dream Team of Akron, Ohio is so proud and honored to have represented these two communities in a Good Morning America (GMA) segment on October 5,...

Profile from Tarshia Boutte, USA National Representative

Native Houstonian and invasive ductile carcinoma survivor, Tarshia Boutte, is the team captain of Texas’ first breast cancer survivor dragon boat team, Pink Phurree . At 5’11” tall, Tarshia was built for the engine room. You can often hear her voice from the shoreline as she motivates her Pink Phurree crew mates to the finish line. Off the water, Tarshia works as a corporate trainer, leads a water exercise class at her gym, serves in her church’s children’s ministry, and loves to embar...

The Cancer Journey

Judy Via Cava is a member of the Machestic Dragons, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. She is also a Cancer coach. What may you ask is that???? Well, we suggest you check out the website: www.thecancerjourney.com.The Cancer Journey coaches intend to have some very special sessions for our paddlers at the 2023 festival but, in the interim, if you would like to check out what they do and you may be interested in becoming a coach then we suggest you join the free class, "A Taste of Cancer Journey Coaching...

Vaccine Policy Statement from the IBCPC Medical Adivsory Panel (MAP)

The Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) of the IBCPC strongly encourages breast cancer survivor dragon boat teams to create their own individual vaccine policies. These policies should be in accordance with your local public health guidelines and any national dragon boat guidelines that may exist. Links to national/regional dragon boat vaccine policies can be found below.Any policy created should include clear expectations for individual members of a team both on and off the water and for both indoor a...

We're Back Baby And Stronger Than Ever

The Southeast USA is really shining post COVID! Looking through some 2021 pictures, we can easily recap the year with smiles.In the first quarter of 2021 we were keeping our distance but building strength however possible. Kayaking, SUPs, and OCs were becoming the norm for our water sport activities. (pic 1). But by April, the Jacksonville Mammoglams brought back our laughs sharing sisterhood with some Survivors in Sync friends at our festival in Inverness, Florida (2).As we continued to become ...

Para Dragons - building inclusion

Meri Gibson, President IBCPC, met with Nigel Bedford, Chair IDBF Para Athletes Commission over a video call (aided by the trifling matter of some 19,000km between Christchurch, New Zealand and London, England!).First of all, tell us a bit about the Para Athletes Commission and how it fits in with other IDBF activities.The IDBF Para Athletes Commission (IDBF-PAC) replaced the Adaptive Paddlers Commission in 2017. IDBF wanted the Commission’s name and terms of reference to reflect better both it...

Barbara's Story

Barbara's StoryBarbara Montiero is a member of the Canomama team from Brazil. She is a black belt in marital arts and has a lovely story to share.The first paragraph is part of the repost of an article by @sorriremamar.“We live in a world dominated by a weaning culture, full of “subtle influences” and foundations without any scientific foundation that undermined the safety of mothers and condemn babies to weaning, sometimes before birth”.Barbara’s StoryBut I’m going to talk from the ...

Cancellation - 15th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships

Hong KongThe IDBF Council convened a meeting on Saturday, 24 July 2021 to consider the ongoing implications of COVID-19 on our Championships.In that meeting, the IDBF Council decided that:The 15th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships (WDBRC), to be held in November 2021 in Hong Kong, China is officially cancelled. The Hong Kong Organising Committee (HKOC) were also in total agreement with the cancellation of the ChampionshipsThe safety and welfare of athletes and everyone involved was par...

From one side of the world to the other

We absolutely love this story below from Edith Cooper, Brisbane, Australia. Edith holds a special place in the heart of our President as it was Edith who at the festival in Caloundra, Australia, 2007 encouraged Meri to pursue a dragon boat career and to follow her heart and goals within the sport. They have stayed close friends over the years, and even though they live in different countries they really enjoy meeting up at any chance they can.Edith’s story of hope and philanthropyBrisbane host...

IBCPC and Betty Solley thank Cheryl Lychwick

Cheryl Lychwick has been a dedicated worker as an IBCPC National Representative representing the Midwestern region of the United States.We bid farewell to Cheryl as she retires from some of her many responsibilities in the dragon boat world. As a National Representative for the past seven years since the Peterborough festival, Cheryl has kept in excellent communication with her Midwestern US teams and the IBCPC, publishing an annual Newsletter and responding to the many questions posed by our te...

Letter from the President

September 2021Greetings to you all (Kia Ora Koutou)In late June we celebrated National Volunteers Week and here at IBCPC we’re celebrating the amazing work of volunteers across our networks around the globe.We have no idea how large the number of total volunteers in all walks of life is across the globe, but we all agree it would be in the many millions. We do know the numbers for New Zealand (a small island nation of 5,000,000). The most recent statistics show that more than 200,000 New Zeala...

LIPs Sisters are on to their next adventure

With the cancellation of the Linked in Pinks (LIPs) trip to Niagara Falls for the Welland Ontario Hope Floats event in August their next LIPs adventure is the Miami Dragon Boat Festival to be held on November 20, 2021, at 3501 Rickenbacker Causeway, Key Biscayne, Florida, USA.As with each LIPs event it will be not only be a day of racing, but with the collaboration of LIP sisters, Coach Kim and President Victoria of the host team Save Our Sisters, they will expand the fun to Thursday and Friday ...

Male BCS the word is spreading

When we ran our newsletter article about Mark O’Connor being our Male BCS Ambassador the response was overwhelming. So many positive comments about the fact we had made this appointment and the selection of the man to represent other male BCS. One of those comments came from the Male Breast Cancer Coalition. Who even knew that this existed? Below is an extract from their Facebook page.The Male Breast Cancer Coalition (MBCC)The male breast cancer coalition (MBCC) a global not-for-profit patient...

More Power to Women

Whilst IBCPC is not in any way a political forum, we found it interesting to follow this summit and in particular the policies that they felt were of importance to woman globally. It rang bells with us in terms of moving forward or in their words “building forward”, as that is what we endeavour to do at IBCPC, to build to grow. Below are some excerpts from the press release.Women Political Leaders Summit 2021Press release: Heads of States, Ministers, Speakers of Parliaments, Parliamentarians...

New Country Enquiries

Mexico and TrinidadWe are currently in discussions now and will look to undertake outreach clinics in late 2022/early mid-2023 in these two countries.Betty Solley, IBCPC Membership Director connected Mariana Lascano of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico with the members of Pink Phuree, Houston, Texas. Mariana had contacted the IBCPC to request information about starting a breast cancer paddling team in Mexico. She is President of a nonprofit organization in Los Mochis, and while her group currently has...

News from Argentina

Update from Lia del Prado, National Rep, ArgentinaI have so much good news to share with you!!!First of all, the very good news is that 5 new groups have already joined the IBCPC.The new teams are:1. Quilla Rosa. Santa Fe2. Asociación Civil Nahuel Rosa de Bote Dragón (Rio Negro)3. Guerreras Rosa del Viento (Santa Cruz)4. Mongüen Kawen Rosa (Rio Negro)5. Rosa del MarAnother wonderful news is the Invitation that has been sent to me from the Ministry of Social Development, Secretary of Sports an...

News from Brazil

Wow the growth in Brazil has been phenomenal!Cleusa Alonso the founder of Remadoras Rosa in Brazil (Pink Paddlers in Brazil) is determined., dedicated, supportive and very cheerful. She was one of the first Brazilian pink paddlers, even though she lived in Argentina. She has participated in several Breast Cancer dragon boat festivals in Latin and South America, and was the first National Representative for Brazil. She instigated the growth of breast cancer dragon boating in Brazil and is respons...

News from Colombia

From Ruth de Castro, Cartagena de Indias, ColombiaAlmost three years ago, on October 7th 2018, Catalina Palacio established Dragon Boat Colombia Foundation in Cartagena. The organization's purpose is to connect all women in Colombia that would like to change their lifestyle after surviving breast cancer. Paddling and sharing their stories went hand in hand. And as result, a big group of women were 'bitten by the dragon' and embarked on this adventure.Sadly in July 2019, we lost Catalina to breas...

News from Panama

Article from Floribeth de Finizio , President, Pink Warriors PanamaThe history of Breast Cancer Dragon boat paddling in Panama began in May 2019 when the organizers of the Panamanian Chinese Association decided to incorporate the BCS category in their 5th dragon boat festival in Panama, particularly as the team of Nahuel Rosa from Argentina was joining the event as guests.We formed as a team with 14 members and we competed against the Argentine and Colombian teams that came to our country in Jul...

News from South Africa

From Eileen van Helden, National Representative, South AfricaAmabele Belles, Cape Town, South AfricaWe BCS paddlers frequently use the term roller coaster to describe our journey, and in South Africa, and many other countries, it is a very appropriate term to describe the course of our paddling over the last 2 years.Since our last update to IBCPC in August 2020 when we were in hard Covid lockdown, a lot has happened, but much has stayed the same. On 3 October we were back to paddling after a 6-m...

Next IBCPC Participatory Festival - 2026

As we have missed a year due to COVID we thought it would be good to let you know that we will be working through the process of obtaining bids for the next IBCPC event in 2026.For any of you considering organising an IBCPC Festival, it is time to think about this now. We anticipate opening the bid process for the 2026 event on the 1st October 2022.You will be advised of the time period for submitting your bid along with timeframes around site visits, announcements etc.Prior to the opening of th...

Pink Power is Spreading

We are very pleased and proud to inform you that our Vice President, Lucia De Ranieri, has just been appointed as a director of the board of the Fondazione Careggi Onlus, the foundation has been established by the AOU Careggi Hospital of Florence, one of the most prestigious and biggest hospitals in Tuscany and in Italy.“When I was proposed to join the Foundation’ – says Lucia – “I felt deeply the honour of being a part of such a prestigious institution, and of course I accepted the ap...

Prevention Must Not Be Stopped

From Lucia De Ranieri, President of FIRENZE IN ROSA OnlusReport from Lucia on the work of FIRENZE IN ROSA Onlus, the organizers of the 2018 IBCPC festival in Florence and how they are gifting the surplus funds and also fundraising even more funds to support important breast cancer initiatives.Like many other diseases, breast cancer knows no limits, it does not respect distances and pandemics, and the promotion of prevention must not be stopped.With greater strength in this historical period of d...

The Race

by Jeannette Jan Labbe – Sistership CalgaryHer heart is pounding. Tears are glistening in her eyes. The dragon boats are jockeying for position at the start line of the race course. She breathes deeply while clutching her paddle tightly.The starter shouts, “Boat One, two strokes forward! Boat Five, hold! Boat Three, back up two seats!” She has too much time to think. Her thoughts drift to the beautiful daughter she has just buried who had died of the breast cancer that she has survived. In...