the toronto international
dragon boat festival
n Sunday, June 22th, 2014, a
group of Voice K journalists
headed out to Central Island for
the Toronto International Dragon Boat
Festival. The drive was pretty long.
When my family finally arrived at our
destination, I wanted to jump out of the
car!
When my family got to the ferry dock,
we had to wait in a long line for the
ferry. My family rode on the top layer of
the ferry. When I got there, I was
amazed by the buzz of excitement in
the crowd. There were so many people
with paddles so I knew they must be
paddlers competing in the race. There
were lots of vendors with food and
games, and the thumping of the
dancers’ feet on the stage was
amazingly loud.
the same in Boy scouts too,”
Hudson said. He told me that the
important part about racing is that
everyone has to be in sync. “You
have to make sure you listen to
the man in the back and
everyone on the boat has to
know his instructions.”
I also learned that in a race like this, good to finish. And I feel even better
you want start paddling very hard at the when I win!”
start, slow down in the middle, and then
Then I asked to see his hands and
pick up at the end.
there were so many calluses on them!
In order to prepare for a dragon boat
race, you need a lot of different training.
One of the most important ones is to
train how to row. You can pull your
paddle to your sides and work on your
strokes. You also need lots of warmups
and muscle training because paddling
requires a lot of back exercises,
I explored the island until I saw the shoulder exercises, and cardio
Voice K group. We got split up into two exercises.
teams. I interviewed a paddler named
Tim Hudson who was competing for the “How do you feel when you finished the
race?” I asked.
P&G team.
Then I interviewed one of the
organizers of the event, Kevin Lo. His
favorite part of the race is seeing all the
teamwork effort. Lo told me that this
was his fourth year being an organizer.
“I first heard about this festival when I
was a kid,” Lo told me when I asked
him about his first experience.
After playing for several hours, it was
time to head back home. I still
remember the day I saw dragons on the
river, and am excited to see next year’s
race.
“My dad and I used to always go ”Relieved,” Tim said. “Bec ]\