Halifax, Nova Scotia — When her team won four gold medals for Canada at the ninth World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Prague, Major Judy MacDonald was thrilled.
“It was absolutely incredible,” said Maj MacDonald. “Our team won every distance. Some of them were quite close races, so that made it even better.”
The Canadians won the 2 000 m, 1 000 m, 500 m and 200 m races.
Perseverance pays off
She was almost as thrilled to report that, while training for the competition, she was finally able to do a pull-up. Fleet fitness and sports staff Kevin Delong and Louis DeSouza encouraged her as she spent eight months working toward the pull-up goal.
“The PSP staff at the gym has given me so much help,” she said. “Winning something that’s hard to get was so satisfying. It was all about perseverance.”
Months of training
Maj MacDonald, who works in G5 Plans at LFAA HQ in Halifax, was the only military member on the Canadian National Senior Women’s dragon boat team to participate in the biennial competition. Dozens of teams from many countries competed this August in Prague, Czech Republic.
“Dragon boat racing is fairly new in this region [Halifax]. It started out in charity and fundraising events,” she explained, adding that growing up in Dartmouth—the city of lakes—she and her friends paddled together at various canoe clubs 20 years ago.
Maj MacDonald is a member of the main competitive dragon boat club in Atlantic Canada, Dragon Boat East, which was established several years ago. The club members train all winter and, according to Maj MacDonald, “We’re still on the water now. We stay until it’s November and there’s ice. And as soon as the ice is off the lakes in spring, we’re on.”
Article by Virginia Beaton, Trident staff
CF member strikes gold in dragon boat competition
The Canadian women's senior team won four gold medals at the 9th annual World Dragon Boat Championship in Prague August 26–30, 2009.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Project Number: 09-0781
