July 10, 2015

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS |

PRESENTS

THE 13TH ANNUAL

JULY 10-12 2015 MAFFEO SUTTON PARK Join us for a Weekend of FREE Family Fun

THE LARGEST FESTIVAL OF THE YEAR! nanaimodragonboat.com Candle Ceremony: 9:15 pm FRIDAY • Multi-Cultural Performances: FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY • Shriners Pancake Breakfast: 7:00 am SATURDAY • Farmer’s Market: SATURDAY & SUNDAY • VI Brewery Beer Garden

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2 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS | FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

Mayor’s message for Dragon Boat 2015 Carnation Ceremony at the Dragon Boat Festival

Candle Ceremony at the Dragon Boat Festival

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WELCOME TO SNUNEYMUXW TERRITORY AND THE CITY OF NANAIMO! On behalf of Mayor and Council, I wish to welcome you to Nanaimo and the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw (pronounced ‘shoo-nay-mook’) First Nations! The Snuneymuxw have been welcoming visitors to their territory for over 160 years and our name actually means ‘the meeting place.’ How appropriate that you gather here today to compete in one of the most successful and revered Dragon Boat Festivals in all of British Columbia!

While I am taking time away from the community this weekend, I can’t tell you how much I’ll miss you all! Dragon Boaters are a different breed. You work hard, you play hard, and you come together in a spirit of both competition and camaraderie seen nowhere else in competitive sports! I’m really going to miss you this year!

I know your visit will be short, but please take in other activities

during your visit here and tell your friends about what a wonderful time you had in Nanaimo!

We’d love to have you back anytime!

Don’t forget those welcoming Volunteers at the Save On Foods Dragon Boat Festival.

They work very hard to make sure you have a wonderful time while in our community. Hats off to them all!

Dig hard, and paddles up!

Mayor Bill McKay

957 Jackson Road, Nanaimo 250-754-9970 www.britco.com

The 2015 Save-On-Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival starts today.

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DRAGONBOAT FESTIVAL THANK YOU 2014 DRAGONBOAT FESTIVAL SAVE-ON FOODS DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS |

Need to know: Schedule of events FRIDAY 3 p.m. Paddler’s Registration – Paddler’s Village 6 p.m. Survivor’s Dinner – private, by invite only 7 p.m. Registration closes 9:15 p.m. Candle Ceremony — Swy-a-lana Lagoon — open to everyone

Heiko Behn, Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival chairman with Mayor Bill McKay.

Festival welcomes all Dragon Boaters

O

n behalf of the Board of Directors of the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival Society, I welcome all paddlers, supporters and the public to our 13th Annual Save-On-Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival.

The venue is spectacular and together with our many sponsors and volunteers we have put together our “best of class� festival.

Truly this weekend is a community event and we wish to thank the Snuneymuxw First Nation for the use of their traditional land, the Nanaimo Port Authority for the on water support and the City of Nanaimo for the use of the Maffeo Sutton Park.

With 67 teams competing we

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will watch spirited sportsmanship, enjoy fine camaraderie and have both an opportunity to celebrate life and an opportunity to remember those who have fallen victim to breast cancer.

Your participation will help in the fight to eradicate this terrible disease as our profits are directed to the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation for the purchase of advanced imaging and diagnostic equipment and to Nanaimo Hospice.

I look forward to celebrating our 13th year with you — please consider joining us for a great weekend of racing, fun, and celebration. Enjoy our festival!

Heiko Behn Chair Nanaimo Dragon Boat

SATURDAY 7 a.m. Shriners Pancake breakfast 7 a.m. Late Registration opens – Paddler’s Village 7:45 a.m. Steers/Managers meeting 8 a.m. Registration closes 8:30 a.m And the racing begins!

9 a.m. Merchandise and Farmer’s Market opens 11a.m. Shriners Pancake breakfast ends NOON Opening Ceremony at Swy-a-lana Lagoon NOON Beer gardens starts pouring!

1 p.m Afternoon racing begins 4:30 p.m. Racing completed for the day 5 p.m. Beer Gardens closes 5:30 p.m. All Paddler’s party begins — private — by invitation only

SUNDAY 7 a.m. Site opens 7:45 a.m. Steers/managers meeting 8 a.m. Shriners start cooking pancakes!

8:30 a.m. Dragon boat racing begins 9 a.m. Merchandise and Farmer’s Market opens 11 a.m. Shriners Pancake Breakfast ends NOON Carnation Ceremony,

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Congratulations

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everyone invited, Swy-a-lana Lagoon NOON Beer garden starts pouring!

1 p.m. Afternoon racing begins 4 p.m. Merchandise and Farmer’s Market closes 4:30 p.m.

Afternoon racing ends 5 p.m.

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4 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS | FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015

From Friday night, with the Candle Ceremony at 9:45 p.m. at Swy-a-Lana Lagoon until the beer gardens close at 7 p.m. on Sunday, there are a variety of events — aside from the races

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Three good reasons to head to Dragon Boat Festival 2015

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f you find yourself bored this summer, then you’re not trying hard enough. There’s a wet and wild weekend waiting for the entire family — the Save on Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat festival! Still need convincing to come to Maffeo Sutton Park this weekend? Here are three!

No. 1, It’s FREE Just so you know, this event is entirely FREE. It’s free live entertainment and music, including Sunday Gospel with Elvis!

Obviously the most fun can be had watching the races. The heats may be only three minutes but each race is fascinating in the sunny, luscious beauty of the waterfront.

No. 2 There’s food, drink and sunshine You can’t really have a festival without food and drink now can you? Don’t worry; we have it all from Vancouver Island Brewery beer and Starbucks coffee to ice cold Pepsi.

You’ll also find a variety of delicious eats — everything from fish tacos and souvlaki to vindaloo and mini-donuts — for you to savour. And if that’s not enough to satisfy your appetite, the Farmer’s Market is ready with fresh fruit, vegetables and craftfood.

No. 3, Days of party That’s right; the party goes on for three days starting with the Friday

night Candles of Courage Ceremony. A lone piper will lead a procession of paddling breast cancer survivors, each carrying a lit candle, to the edge of the Swy-a-lana lagoon.

Now if you can’t make it Friday, no worries. We gather Saturday at noon to witness the Snuneymuxw First Nation’s traditional blessing of the water, blessing of the dragon boat and “dotting the eye” ceremony.

Noon Sunday we raise a pink carnation in celebration of life and to remember those who lost their battle.

Find out all there is to offer at www.nanaimodragonboat.com

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS |

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Teams train hard in effort to bring home win ROSS ARMOUR DAILY NEWS

One of the many teams with aims of a medal in this weekend’s races at the Dragon Boat Festival is Angels and Demons.

The team, made up of the regular 20 paddlers, a steer person and a drummer, heads into the first 500m race on Saturday morning with hopes a personal best.

That time for the team right now is currently two minutes and 40 seconds but both coach Greg Sigalet and captain Jim Pierce have hopes of beating that comfortably on race day.

The team have trained at least twice-a-week in the buildup to the festival out of the Harbour Homes Marina, under the stewardship of the pair.

Mood in the camp was positive on Monday evening.

“I left a couple of other teams to go on this team because I thought they were a very competitive team and they act like

Dragon boaters are always looking to best their previous time.

a team,” said festival veteran Pierce, who’s been involved since the very beginning. “They’re very good and I think they’ve got a very good chance of winning.”

The team won’t know what division they’ll placed in or whether they have a shot at a medal until after the first of four races over the course of the weekend, but will aim to go paddle faster in each one regardless.

“The first race of the day is the one that sets the timing,”

said Pierce. “For instance, we’re racing against the navy team and they’re probably going to beat us by about 30 or 40 seconds because they’re that good. We’re probably going to be in the middle division.”

Like Pierce, coach Sitadel who will be on the team’s drum in the boat, is hoping to shave a good chunk of time off the team’s current time come race day.

“A big part of our training because our boat is a little bit

lighter is endurance and weight,” said Sigalet. “If we add a little bit of extra weight to the boat, it kind of balances out our training with the actual boat we’ll be racing in.

“So definitely a big part of it is endurance. If we can paddle for three times the length of the race course, paddling the race course will be no problem. That’s the big thing that we work on in the power and endurance rather than just the first 500m.”

Sigalet says he’ll be content in the team shows progression in each race.

“The main aim that we have is the same as a lot of the other teams in that you always want to beat you time,” he said. “But no one’s going to complain if you start to beat other teams either.

We set our time in practice and always beat that on race day. If we keep bettering ourselves, it gives us a better goal to work towards.”

Pierce says he’s proud of what the festival has achieved over the last 13 years and predicts it has raised more than half a million dollars for the cause.

“Over the years, they’ve managed to get all the breast cancer equipment in (at the hospital), so I’m happy to see that. When I first brought it to Nanaimo 13 years ago, that’s what we were aiming for.”

Paddler Anna Small says the team name arrived due to the metaphorical angel and demon each paddler takes with them into the race.

“We all paddle for an angel,” she said. “We have an angel that we take out in the water and we all have a demon that we fight.

For instance, some of us are very scared of the water and don’t swim.”

Ross.Armour @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4230

THE 13TH ANNUAL NANAIMO

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Survivors a big part of Dragon Boat event Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation and Nanaimo Hospice House main beneficiaries of festival ROBERT BARRON DAILY NEWS

Diana Bertram joined the Angels Abreast Dragon Boat team in 2011, just two days after finishing her radiation treatments for breast cancer.

She said learning she had breast cancer was the hardest things she has ever had to deal with in her life, but joining other breast-cancer survivors on the Angels Abreast team was the one “bright spot” of the ordeal.

Angels Abreast is considered Nanaimo’s first Dragon Boat team and participated in Nanaimo’s inaugural Dragon Boat festival in 2003.

It’s one of a number of teams composed almost entirely of breast-cancer survivors that will be among the more than 65 teams from all over the Pacific Northwest that will be participating in Nanaimo’s 13th annual Dragon Boat Festival this weekend.

The popular event usually draws tens of thousands of people into downtown Nanaimo over three days, and they typically pump more than $1 million into downtown businesses each year.

The Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival Society, which organizes the event, donates the net proceeds of the festival to the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation and Nanaimo Hospice House.

Since 2003, the society has donated approximately $600,000 to assist in improving the diagnostic and treatment process of breast cancer patients in the region.

Judy Borserio is another member of the Angels Abreast team who joined soon after completing her treatments for breast cancer in 2010.

She said dealing with breast cancer was difficult, but having the support of team members who have gone through the same ordeal was critical for her.

Borserio said the festival’s Carnation Ceremony, in which paddling breast-cancer survivors are honoured, is the most special part of the event for her.

Diana Bertram. on the dock, and Judy Borserio are members of the Angels Abreast dragonboat team.

“It really touches me deeply,” she said. “When I first participated in the ceremony, it was the first time it hit me that I’m really not alone in my journey.”

Maeve O’Byrne, president of the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation, said the funding the foundation receives from the festival is mostly used to purchase diagnostic equipment, including a mammogram machine that was bought for the hospital.

“The most frightening part of the process for those diagnosed with breast cancer is during the tests to determine the extent and type of the disease, and having this equipment here shortens that period substantially,” she said.

Robert.Barron @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4234

Supporting Community Events NANAIMO DRAGONBOAT FESTIVAL 2015

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FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015 | NANAIMO DAILY NEWS |

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Nanaimo Dragon Boat meet attracts boats near and far MIXED Angels & Demons Nanaimo FGPC Brew Crew Victoria FGPC Dragon Flyers Victoria FGPC Navy Dragon Anchors Victoria FGPC Outta Sight Victoria FGPC Paddlers of the Fifth Moon Victoria FGPC RCAF Hornets Victoria FGPC Rebel Alliance Victoria FGPC Snogard Dragons Victoria FGPC West Shore Warriors Victoria FLCC Fort Fusion Victoria Paddle Shots Burnaby Goblin Empire Victoria MS Warriors Victoria

Nanaimo Hornets RFC Nanaimo Prevailing Wins Comox QF Blu By U Nanaimo Raunchy Rodents Edmonton Sake Fusion Seattle Save-On Foods Dragonslayers Nanaimo Spirit Dragons Cowichan Bay TCC Dragoneers Burnaby Team Phoenix Victoria The Red Solo Cups New Westminster VIU Ancient Mariners Nanaimo

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MIXED-SENIOR FGPC Momentum Victoria

Nanaimo Perfect Catch North Vancouver Port McNeill Dragon Slayers Port McNeill Raise A Little Swell Port Coquitlam Sea Gals Gibsons Snapdragons Vancouver Stroke of Luck Nanoose Bay Stroke the Dragon Duncan The Cats Port McNeill The Seventh Wave West Vancouver Triport Warriors Port Hardy VCKC UnBaLaNcEd & AwEsOmE Victoria Water Warriors Chilliwack Wave Babes Nanaimo Welly Waveriders Nanaimo

WOMEN-SENIOR FGPC Gorge-Us Gals Victoria WOMEN-SURVIVOR Sistership Calgary Abreast in a Boat 1 Langley Abreast in a Boat 2 Vancouver Abreast of Life Nanoose Bay Abreast with FORT-itude Langley Angels Abreast Dragon Boat Team Nanaimo River Spirit Campbell River Breast Friends Edmonton Island Breaststrokers Victoria Paddling for Life Powell River Survivorship Penticton

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