A Chatham club has been a key part of the success of the Sydenham Challenge Dragon Boat Festival in Wallaceburg since it started.
The Chatham-Kent Canoe Club had been involved in sprint canoe racing and voyager reenacting since the mid 90’s.
“It had been observed that dragon boating was becoming popular at that time and so the Club leaders of that time decided to introduce the concept of the paddlers being involved in dragon boat racing,” said Kelvin Halbawer, president of the club.
“At that time the practices were done in 25 foot North canoes which are voyager reenacting canoes, which our club still owns. Things sort of evolved. The club prior to having its own dedicated practice equipment use to just use these North canoes to practice in and then they would enter events.”
Kelvin said one of the first event the club ever entered was Stratford, On.
“Stratford has had a successful event going on for quite a number of years and our club won the first event out there. I think that was 1996, was when our club started.
Kelvin said practicing in these heavier boats and then going into a Dragon Boat, it feels as light as a feather.
He said the first boats they got are still used for training.
“They were donated to us by a group in Lacon, Illinois. We call them our Tin Tubs or Dragon barges,” Kelvin said.
“So they are 33′ long aluminium boats that are made for our club there to try and put together their own league but they weren’t successful but because of the connection we have with them. One of our club executive who had passed away, he had a connection with this company in Lacon, Illinois, who had gotten these boats built. They actually sponsored us a few times to travel to the United States to compete in the U.S events.”
Kelvin said one of the events we have had people going to for a long time is in Dubuque, Iowa.
“It is a bit of legacy now. These boats we imported them into Canada, brought them into our club and we still use them today for our practice boats but when we started the Sydenham Challenge, we got that relationship developed.”
Kelvin said their group became involved after the Breast Buddies asked for their help.
“So that’s how it kind of started.They asked us to help them with supplying them some equipment to use and people to help train them. We gladly stepped up to the plate.”
Kelvin said within about a year or so after this is when the Sydenham Challenge came about.
“We acted as a group that supported the event by being able to supply equipment and volunteers to help make it successful,” Kelvin said.
“It is a supporting role. It is to benefit the United Way and the breast cancer survivor groups or breast cancer research. We treat it as a fundraiser within our club too. We make sure that our members understand our role so that any of our club members know that as part of being member of our club, that they are prepared to volunteer so that we can make it as successful as possible.”
Kelvin said many years ago, in the beginning, the Raging Dragons use to enter a team in the event.
“In the beginning there weren’t many teams. We found that it was too difficult for us to be able to be really good at running the race as well as having a team competing in the race. Volunteers are needed to make the event successful,” he said.
“There was a bit of an overlap too where we use to have an event that we did in Chatham, but we have abandoned the event in Chatham and have dedicated our efforts towards making the Wallaceburg event successful.”
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The 2015 event will be held on Saturday, June 6 from 8 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m. at the Wallaceburg Legion Br. 18. There will also be a host of kid’s events taking place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information visit their website: http://sydenhamchallenge.ca/index.html
This article is sponsored content and is a part of our “Keep It Local Business Spotlight” feature. Contact Dana Haggith for more information – 519-784-4610 or dana@sydenhamcurrent.ca.
