Submitted by Vivian Medley (‘with a little help from my friends‘)
In dragon boating, the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Dragon Boat Racing Championships are arguably the highest level of competition. This year’s bi-annual event took place from July 14 – 20 in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany and the cream-of-the-crop came to ‘paddle-it-out’ on theBeetzsee, a freshwater lake. It marked the 17th world competition and was significant in two respects. First, it was the largest competition to-date, hosting over 1,233 crews, representing 33 countries with a total of 4,700 athletes and officials. Second, and perhaps more noteworthy, it marked the inaugural inclusion of a Breast Cancer Paddlers (BCP) division amongst the Age-Specific divisions. Despite an almost 30-year history of breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing, it was not until this year that the IDBF provisionally included the participation of Breast Cancer Paddler teams (2 crews per nation) in the world competition. In their words, they recognize the significant role of breast cancer paddling teams in promoting health, resilience and community among survivors worldwide. Canada recruited and registered a National Team that included paddlers from Hamilton’s very own breast cancer survivor dragon boat team, Knot A Breast (KAB).
Selection of the Canadian National Breast Cancer Paddlers crew was a two-fold process. First, individual paddlers had to meet stringent fitness requirements and submit supporting documentation (including video proof). Second, candidates attended a mandatory weekend-long selection camp (in either Vancouver or Welland) where coaches directly assessed each individual’s paddling ability and performance. As stressful as that was, the paddlers then had a week of nervous anticipation before the crew of Team Canada BCP was announced. Thirty-eight paddlers representing 14 different home teams from across Canada had trained extensively, put themselves out there, and were ultimately selected for Team Canada BCP. Knot A Breast teammates, Dawn Brittain, Kathleen Corbett, Kim Short and Andrea Swan, affectionately dubbed the Fab Four by their home team, were among those who were selected to race in the historic, inaugural Breast Cancer Paddler World Dragon Boat Racing Championships.
The first opportunity for the Canadian National BCP team to paddle together was in the week prior to the competition, in Berlin, Germany. Following an intense 3-day training camp on the Grunau Regatta course (significantly, the site of the 1936 Olympics and the oldest remaining operational sports facility in Berlin), coaches had the necessary information to configure both a Standard 20-paddler boat and a Small 10-paddler boat. Wearing Canada across their backs, these paddlers were physically and mentally primed to represent their country and take on the week-long challenge of world-class racing in this historic competition.
The crews in both the Standard BCP and Small BCP boat raced distances of 2km, 500m and 200m; the Standard crew additionally competed in a 1km race. A total of 8 countries competed in the Standard BCP boat (Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States and Non-Member) and 7 countries competed in the Small BCP boat (Canada, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Serbia, Sweden and United States). Competition was fierce with winning times sometimes being defined by milliseconds! Thrilling for racers and spectators, alike.
Both the Canadian Standard and the Small BCP teams started the week at the top of their game by each winning Gold in the 2km race, their very first race. Talk about setting up the week for success! Exhilarating as it was to win a race, however, it wasn’t always enough to win simply one race. All BCP crews raced the 500m and the 200m course three times and medals were awarded based on cumulative times within each race distance. In every pre-race pep talk given by Team Canada BCP National Head Coach, Cheryl McLachlan, the crew was asked to “simply do the ordinary, extraordinarily”. And wow, did they ever! The Canadian BCP teams medaled in all 7 of their race categories and brought home some impressive ‘hardware’; they won an incredible 5 Gold medals and 2 Silver medals.
Each of the Fab Four Knot A Breast members of Team Canada BCP has since taken the time to reflect and share their own personal experience of participating in the 2025 World Dragon Boat Racing Championships. They are truly moving accounts that describe this powerful experience: from the positive and significant impact in their own lives, the unexpected lifelong friendships formed along the way and the shared view that it was both an incredible honor to represent one’s own country in this historic, inaugural event and an immense, yet fulfilling and empowering challenge to push one’s physical abilities to the limit in preparation for paddling with and against some of the best paddlers in the world. Remarkable when one considers that each woman had at one time faced a life-threatening illness. In their efforts to prioritize, reclaim and sustain their health post-recovery from breast cancer, these women incredulously rose from paddling recreationally on a local dragon boat team to proudly standing on the world stage as World Champion athletes, bursting with pride and feeling revered while receiving a standing ovation from thousands of spectators and paddlers alike, listening to and singing Oh, Canada, their voices united and hearts full. Truly an amazing accomplishment that these women describe as a life-time achievement and one for which they are immensely proud and grateful and which will be forever cherished. From the entire crew of Knot A Breast, Congratulations, Fab Four; (We’re) so proud to know that (you are) mine!
