Peterborough's Dragon Boat Festival - 10th Anniversary - June 5, 2010

Peterborough's annual Dragon Boat Festival was quickly embraced by the community when it started in 2001 and has grown rapidly from about 34 teams to more than 100 community teams participating each year. As a fundraiser for the local hospital's Breast Assessment Centre, it surpassed the $1 million mark in 2007 providing money to help purchase 3 digital mammography units for the new hospital. Kawartha Credit Union has stepped up to the mark as the Platinum sponsor for 8 consecutive years.

HISTORY OF THE FESTIVAL

June 2001
Survivors Abreast introduced dragon boat races to Peterborough. This community event involved 34 teams racing on Little Lake and raised over $25,000 for the Breast Assessment Centre. It sparked a growing enthusiasm for dragon boating within the community.

June 2002
Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival was presented by Kawartha Credit Union, the event’s platinum sponsor, hosted by Survivors Abreast and organized by the Festival Planning Committee. 50 teams participated and raised over $90,000, most of which went to the Breast Assessment Centre at the PRHC.

June 2003
The festival, presented by Kawartha Credit Union, platinum sponsor, included 84 teams, 80 local and 3 breast cancer survivor teams from outside the area who were invited to race with Peterborough’s Survivors Abreast team. The teams and broader community raised $158, 592 for the PRHC.

June 2004
For the third consecutive year, Kawartha Credit Union stepped up to the mark as platinum sponsor allowing 96 teams, including 6 breast cancer teams, to participate. The event raised $175,123.57 for the PRHC, and about $16,000 for Survivors Abreast, a total of $196,705.78.

June 2005
This special fifth anniversary year registered 104 teams, including five breast cancer teams, four of which were guest teams from out of town, and raised $173, 443.42 as reported on the August

June 2006
100 teams raced including four breast cancer survivor teams, two of which were guest teams from out of the area. The festival raised $216,889.57 for the breast assessment centre and $237,073.28 in total including $14, 183.71 for Survivors Abreast and $6,000 held over for festival 2007. Since 2001, $891,701.99 has been donated to the PRHC!

June 2007
104 community teams participated, including 11 visiting breast cancer survivor teams from across Ontario. This year, the festival surpassed the million-dollar mark, raising a total of $1, 079,794.49 since its inaugural year in 2001. The money will go towards the purchase of digital manmography units to help with early diagnosis.

June 2008
About 102 community teams raised $167, 237 in pledges allowing the festival to present a cheque for $202,967 to the new hospital’s Breast Assessment Centre, which was officially named after Peterborough’s Survivors Abreast dragon boat team in a dedication ceremony at the hospital in August. The Festival proceeds are the last installment on purchase of the 3 digital mammography machines that were purchased and are now installed and in use at the Breast Assessment Centre in the new hospital

June 2009  
Organizers of the 9th Annual Dragon Boat Festival presented a cheque for $223,650.43 to the  PRHC Foundation. That total is 21,583.78 more than last years cheque and almost $7,000 more than what organizers hoped to get to buy three new pieces of diagnostic equipment:

• A $120,000 computer-aided detection system for breast MRI imaging, as well as software for MRI breast biopsy.
• A $38,000 software application for mammography reporting stations.
• A second sentinel node probe ($59,000), which allows for a less invasive procedure and involves the removal of only two or three nodes to determine if the cancer in the breast area has spread. In 2007, the festival proceeds brought the total given to the centre to $1,079,794. Now, with last years $202,966 cheque and this years donation of $223,650 the grand total is at $1,506,410 getting closer to the second million.