Survivors Abreast Dragonboat Race Team. Peterborough Ontario's Breast Cancer Survivor Team.

In Chinese folklore, the dragon is gentle and kind unlike the evil dragon of European tradition. In fact, the Chinese dragon is reputed to chase away evil. It's known as a fiercely watchful female guardian," Meredith Cosburn said. "When I heard that, I thought, oh, that's wonderful and very fitting."
   
Dragon boating got its beginning 2,000 years ago in China. A poet-philosopher named Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Mei Lo River to protest the corrupt regime of a Chou emperor. The local fishermen raced out in their boats to save him, but failed. To stop his body from being devoured by fish they beat the water with their paddles and threw rice dumplings wrapped in silk into the river as a sacrifice to his spirit. Ever since, annual dragon boat races are held in China to re-enact this story.

During the 1970s, dragonboating became a watersport in addition to an annual cultural celebration. In the1990s especially dragonboating as a sport for people of all ages has grown tremendously. There are now teams all over the world--North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.