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Thousands of paddlers, all in the same boat
Close to 130 teams from 17 countries converge on Florence, Italy, this week for a dragon boat festival organized by the International Commission of Breast Cancer Paddlers . It is the Wallaceburg Breast Buddies, whose members come from Chatham-Kent and Lambton County.
The biggest attraction of the festival is not racing or tourism, said Joanne Western of Sarnia's Breast Buddies. It's the camaraderie of being with so many bad cancer survivors.
"It's so nice to see all those people and all ages and all the different athletic abilities coming together there," she said. "This is not a competitive race where we give medals for the first, second, third.This is a participatory race, so everyone gets a medal to participate." of good. "
The festival is held every four years. The Breast Buddies has already been to Sarasota, Florida, in 2014 and Peterborough in 2010.
The team has 34 members, including 24 in Italy. They were scheduled to arrive in Rome on Monday and spend a few days visiting the city before traveling to Florence.
They will have a parade of nations and an opening ceremony on Friday, then a race on Saturday and Sunday on the Arno River. There is even a race for spouses and other supporters.
The Breast Buddies are preparing for this trip since Florence was named the host city four years ago.
"We did a lot of fundraising and we have," said Western, an original member of the team.
The Breast Buddies was founded in 2001. The dragon boat paddle is the most popular of all the communities we know, part of the rehabilitation for many bad cancer survivors around the world who have undergone surgery
"Some teams are very demanding," said Collette Johanson, President of the team. "With us, we are more about awareness. We compete locally, though. Our age is 43 to 82 years old. We are doing well, we are doing our best, but we are just happy to be racing (and) getting into the boat.
Thursday nights on the Sydenham River with coach Margaret Oxford
They also see each other during the off season.
"We are meeting throughout the year," Johanson said. "One of our members is unfortunately in full recurrence at the moment, so we have members who go in turn to follow treatments with her and make sure she's fine." We check each other We are all together in this game. "
The team also has shore buddies, who do not ride in the boat but who like to cheer on their teammates.
"They just want to be part of the action, partly Johanson says that this kinship extends to all bad cancer survivors, no matter where they come from.
"We welcome members of other survivor teams," said Johanson. "We had a lady from BC not long ago. She found us on the internet and jumped into our boat with us for a workout while she was on vacation here. "
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