The Legend of Dragon Boat Racing

Dragon Boat Festival is the second most popular Chinese cultural event after Chinese New Year.  This 2000-year-old ancient Chinese culture, also called Duan Wu (Tuen Ng) Festival, is folklore about the legend of the actions of a Chinese poet and philosopher, Qu Yuan, and his political protest against a corrupt ruler.

In ancient China over 2,000 years ago, Qu Yuan, unhappy with the ruler and the state of affairs, protested by jumping to his death into the Miluo (Mei Lo) River. According to the legend, local fishmen, upon seeing the poet’s act of courage, raced out in their boats in an attempt to save him but they arrived too late. To prevent his body from being eaten by the fish, the fisherman beat the water with their paddles furiously and threw rice dumplings wrapped in silk into the river to distract the fish. The sacrifice by Qu Yuan led to an reactment of the paddling in the form of dragon boat festivals being held to commemorate his death worldwide each year.

Dragon Boat Festival/Duan Wu (Tuen Ng) Festival is celebrated by Chinese all over the world to reenact the folklore. 50 millions people worldwide participate in Dragon Boat festivals, with majority in China and the Far East, and over 200,000 participants from Europe and 100,000 in North American including 50,000 in Canada from all diverse communities.

What is Dragonboating?

Each boat is adorned with a dragon-shaped head and tail, and in total measures about 12.5 metres.  The boats were originally made of wood, but are now built with mainly composite fibre glass.

The boats are usually driven by between 18 and 20 paddlers, whose strokes are taken in time with the rhythm of a drummer who is perched on the bow behind the dragon head.

A helmsman or sweep is required for control. It takes great skill to maintain control of such a heavy, powerful craft. This is all done with a sweep oar fixed to the stern of the boat.

What is Club Crew World Championships (CCWC)?

The Club Crew World Championships is for competitors who represent their own Dragon Boat Club or Crew. They do not "Represent" their country but race under their Club (crew) Name and Colours. Athletes that participate in Club Crew Dragon Boat World Championships are from the best of the club crews from over 20 nations around the world.

What is IDBF?

The IDBF is the world-wide governing body for the water sport of Dragon Boat Racing. It is an international non-governmental, non-profit world organization for dragon boating, consisting of: recognised national and territorial level governing dragon boat associations; continental and regional groupings; and dragon boat clubs and other organisations with an active or passive interest in dragon boating.

The IDBF observes the general and fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter and the IOC Manual on sport and the environment.

The Event

From August 10-13, Toronto will host the 2006 International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) Club Crew World Championships (CCWC).

Over 150 crews and 4,000 competitors are expected to participate in this year's event, including teams from across North America, and as far away as Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and China.  Previous IDBF World Championships have been held in cities such as Berlin, Shanghai, Rome and Cape Town.  The next Club Crew World Championships will be held in Penang, Malaysia in 2008.

The Championship races will take place at the brand new Western Beaches Watercourse, just off scenic Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto’s west end.  A 10-minute drive or 30 to 40-minute walk from downtown Toronto, the site is also easily accessible by Toronto’s public transit system or TTC.

Not only will the event offer four days of exciting competition, cultural entertainment, activities for kids, and more, admission is FREE for all.  Spectators and dragon boat fans from across North America – and the world – are expected to come out and spend the day on Toronto’s beautiful waterfront and cheer on their favourite Dragon Boat crews.

The 4-day races will consist of the following:

Event Schedule

Please visit Schedule page for complete race programme.

About the Watercourse

The World Championships have been the catalyst for the creation of the new Western Beaches Watercourse. Construction is being funded by the three levels of Governments at a cost of $23-million.

October 11, 2005 was the Ground Breaking Ceremony to kick off construction. The course will be completed in June 2006 in time to host the 2006 IDBF Club Crew Dragon Boat World Championships and its training programs.

The watercourse course will be 600 metres long by 135 metres wide, with a capacity for 6 lanes plus return lanes.

Click the image below to view watercourse aerial photos and preliminary site plan.



An Event of “Firsts”

• First World Dragon Boat Championships to be held in Toronto.
• First event to be held at Toronto’s new Western Beaches Watercourse at Marilyn Bell Park.
• The Western Beaches Watercourse is also the first project to be completed as a part of the Waterfront Revitalization Project.

Dragon Boat Facts

• Over 50 million people worldwide participate in Dragon Boat festivals and regattas.
• Over 40 countries around the world hold Dragon Boat Championships every year.
• Participants are as old as 85 and as young as 12 years of age.
• Dragon Boat participants are 60% men and 40% women.