Submitted by Christina
Ravenna
On August 31st, two teams from Germany started into another adventure: The Küsten Pinkies from Wilhelmshaven and the Pink Dragonistas from Hannover arrived in Ravenna, Italy, to meet with dragonboat teams from around the world at the 14th Club Crew World Championships. We belonged to the lucky teams who already knew the race area from competing at the European Championships in 2023. This time, however, we used a different type of boat and were amazed at what a difference a boat can make, especially for the helm (steersperson).
We watched the first day of racing to prepare for our own 2000m race with a flying start and three turns on day 2. 13 pink teams (besides Germany from Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Panama, New Zealand, Serbia, Spain, and USA) took part in the BCS smallboat long distance race. Both German teams were very happy with their results, as the Küsten Pinkies finished 5th while the Pink Dragonistas won a bronze medal and were proud to join the podium with the teams from False Creek, Vancouver, Canada, and CanSurvive Wellington, New Zealand.
Following a free day used for sightseeing in the Mosaic City of Ravenna, we returned to the race area for the 200m competition. While the Pink Dragonistas reached the A final as third and first in two qualifying races with another bronze medal in a pool of 15 BCS teams as an excellent result, the Küsten Pinkies had an extraordinary experience when they capsized at the first start and were saved by an escort boat. This unexpected finish will never be forgotten!
All paddlers had another day off to recover and visit the beautiful Emilia-Romagna region before everyone got back in the boats for their 500m races. Though the wheather forecast for Sunday afternoon was awful, we were looking forward for a day of racing followed by the closing ceremony. However, after the first qualifying round all races were cancelled due to thunderstorms… The Küsten Pinkies finished 5th over all, the Pink Dragonistas as first in their race were happy to be awarded another bronze medal – admiring our new paddling pals from Canada for their silver medals and from New Zealand for taking home the gold again.
We loved returning to Ravenna for the CCWC in 2024 to connect with new BCS teams and paddlers from around the world and would like to share some pictures from Italy. Unfortunately, we didn´t only bring home medals and memories, but both teams – and many others – also brought along COVID infections.
