Go Europe Pink Dragons 3rd (Hannover) and 4th (Vienna) editions
Submitted by Christina Bremer, Hannover.
Following the Pentecost visit of a Go Europe Pink Dragons composite team formed of paddlers from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland (please read the news and see the pictures from Germany), another Go Europe Pink Dragons team met in Vienna for a reunion, another regatta and a picnic with the Vienna Pink Dragons in June.
Our team, this time 18 paddlers with 6 nationalities, Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany and Northern Ireland, got together in a beer garden in the Prater area in Vienna on Friday night to get to know each other before paddling together in Korneuburg on Saturday.
We enjoyed some typical Austrian food and drinks and planned how to organize the rest of the weekend. On Saturday morning, we met at the train station to reach the race area in an old shipyard in the pouring rain. Luckily, the rain stopped when we had the possibility of practicing for half an hour.
The dragons were awakened with dances of Chinese artists, then the races started in the sunny heat of the day. As there were only two breast cancer teams. We competed with mixed teams in three timed races and one final with the Vienna Pink Dragons finishing first and GO EUROPE finishing second out of 12 teams in the fun mixed category.
Another important part of the festival was the flower ceremony with a live performance of two opera singers who sang the emotional song “Der Weg” by the famous German singer Herbert Grönemeyer who remembers his wife Anna having died of breast cancer in this song therefore predestined for calling our minds on the BCS sisters and brothers who also lost the fight. We had a day filled with emotions, fun, laughter and good talks while growing close together as a team.
On Sunday, we were invited to the oldest rowing club in Vienna where the Vienna Pink Dragons have set up their dragonboat base. After paddling on the Old Danube with a short stop for ice cream cones, we enjoyed a lovely picnic prepared by our kind hosts. The weekend will stay in our hearts with many beautiful memories of a great international paddling event.
Of course we also had some free time for exploring the city and surroundings of Vienna in small groups! St. Stephen´s Cathedral is always worth a visit inside and out. Visitors have a fantastic view of the old town from the South tower – if they don´t mind climbing 343 steps up and back down. It was so much easier to catch the city view from the top of the Ferris wheel “Riesenrad” or from VPD captain Julia´s office where she had invited us for a coffee, before some of us took a guided tour in the United Nations Vienna complex followed by a quick lunch with our tour guide Svenja. Vienna is definitely worth a trip, especially when your paddling pals spend a lot of time with you!
Our next trip is already planned for October. GO EUROPE will register for the Annecy dragonboat festival in France, so another adventure is just around the corner… To be continued!
