By Cecilia Nasmith

With courage and inspiration, Cobourg's Survivor Thrivers Dragon Boat team has brought home a bronze-medal from the International Dragon Boat Festival in Welland last month.

It was the Hope Floats event (billed as the “first annual”), held at what Survivor Thriver team member Nancy Marshall called “the world-class Flatwater Centre” and organized by the Alkame Dragon Boat Services in Pickering.

“This event was to raise funds for the South Niagara Canoe Club and Wellspring Niagara that offers free programs and services to meet the social, emotional, restorative and informational needs of people living with cancer, at any stage, as well as for their caregivers and family members,” Marshall said last week.

“The Survivor Thrivers were pleased to make a donation.”

The local team raced in two divisions – the Breast Cancer division and the Cancer/Support division, which accepts team members who had any kind of cancer as well as their supporters.

It's something the Survivor Thrivers have begun doing as well, she said, opening up team spots for participants who have (for example) had melanoma or other kinds of cancer as well as their supporters. And it was in this division that they won their medal.

She was also impressed at the festival by the para-athlete teams with rowers who were living with blindness, mobility issues or other such challenges.

“It brought tears to your eyes to watch these people – the smiles on their faces, paddling down the racecourse. It was really fabulous,” Marshall recalled.

The team arrived at the festival a little light, with only 18 members available to participate in the Aug. 25-26 event – 13 breast-cancer survivors, two other cancer survivors and three supporters. Luckily, they were were able to beef up a little with the offer of two members of a Winnipeg club called Chemo Savvy.

The team arrived on Friday and got in a practice before checking into the hotel. They enjoyed a big Friday-evening gala, taking the chance to meet other athletes and hear the speeches.

Then, at 8:24 a.m. next day, it was – literally – off to the races on a glorious hot and sunny day to tackle the 200-metre and 500-metre races whose times would seed the team for the final race.

It was a lot of racing in a very short span of time, with little chance to rest. For some of the paddlers, Marshall noted, it was their very first 500-metre race. By 3 p.m., they were looking at a grand-finale 2K race and asking themselves some hard questions.

“Some of members were all asking, do I want to paddle 2,000 metres and, more importantly, can I do it safely? Risking injury or jeopardizing health is never an option,” Marshall said.

“Even though we had already pushed ourselves beyond belief, 14 of our team said that they wanted to participate.”

The skies darkened and it began to drizzle as team members filed into the boat, she said, but spirits were high and coach Steve Wilkes had faith in them all.

“We stayed in stroke, we did our best, our heads were down, we paddled together. And he was in the back saying, 'You go, ladies. You are tremendous. You got this,'” Marshall recounted.

She spoke of digging deeper and tapping into a new calm and steady energy – and the feeling that those teammates who could not be in the boat were there in spirit.

“The 14-and-a-half minutes it took for us to cross the finish line were filled with our pride and the power of our strength together,” she said.

“We just dug deep, and the crowd on the shore was cheering us and it was remarkable. And it was such a great feeling to say, 'Yes, we did it, and there's nothing we can't face and overcome.'

“I was so proud of the team. Everybody, to a member, afterwards talked about the relationships and the support we give to each other.”

Other memories of the event include a big parade around the canal and a Pink Carnation Ceremony. This is a ceremony to honour and remember members of this special community who have passed.

It's a ceremony the Survivor Thrivers recently had on their own home turf – an Aug. 17 Pink Carnation Ceremony at their dragon-boat shed in the Cobourg harbour in honour of Dorothy Hampson and her teammates Edith Carr and Sheila Eby.

Hampson was a breast-cancer survivor who had heard about how therapeutic dragon boating is for breast-cancer patients, and she set about fundraising for that first dragon boat. By the time she succeeded, the Survivor Thrivers team was formed and waiting – as well as two other community teams who were also raring to go.

Dragon boating in this community is a tradition now approaching its 25th anniversary, Marshall said, and celebrations include a fund-raising tea Oct. 21 at Port Hope's Masonic Temple. Tiered plates, fancy sandwiches, clotted cream and jam, home-made desserts and scones from Lalies & The Dutch (the former Dutch Oven in Cobourg), she listed. And they will be selling fascinators just to make it all even fancier.

A limited number of tickets are available at $40 – watch for details coming soon.