A big aspect of Portland’s spring celebrations is the city’s annual Rose Festival. It’s full of cultural celebrations, the Rose Princess program and notably, dragon boat racing.
Dragon boat racing at the Rose Festival originated in 1989, aiming to celebrate the ties between one of Portland’s sister cities in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Through the organization, Keohsiung has supplied eight beautiful, fierce and intricately designed dragon boats for Portland rowers to practice and compete in this unique way. More information about the festival and ties with Kaohsiung can be found at the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association Website (PKSCA).
Using one of the supplied boats, the Ida B. Wells Dragon Boat team, also known as the IBW Dragon Guardians, has been working towards the Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race that commences on June 7th and 8th. Hard at work, all of their practices and training will lead up to this moment, with their critical training taking place now.
The IBW Dragon Guardians (previously affiliated with different team names) has been dating back for more than two decades, having its oldest recording on the PKSCA website since 2003.
Robert Bremmer, a coach for the team for five years, recalls the fun times and cool connections with the Rose Festival.
Bremmer also helped connect then-Wilson students with 8th-graders at Robert Gray Middle School (RGMS) to increase team sizes. “It was awesome. The teams were named ‘Green Wave’ and the ‘Sea Chickens,’” said Bremmer.
But since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, RGMS students have not participated, and team sizes have been cut down.
Teacher at IBW and current coach, Andrew Butterfield, said that the numbers are slowly but surely rising year by year. Butterfield has been coaching the team for four years.
Inclusivity is a large value of the team, the club emphasizes the acceptance of anyone who wants to join. Whether you have a background in rafting or have never touched a paddle before, anyone of any level can join the team.
“One of the special things about this team and about dragon boating is it’s an open sport, which means there’s no gender requirement at all and all are welcome…we’re going to accept everybody and support each other…” said Butterfield.
Joining and learning are the first steps to being a part of the team. Butterfield said the team is always looking for more people, “We lost a lot of seniors last year, and so getting some younger students into it and trained for how to do the different roles on the boat, [is] really good.”
Sebastian Evens, junior at IBW and the current captain of the Dragon Boat team, joined the team halfway through the previous season. Persuaded by a friend, he tried it out and learned to love the sport.
Just like any sport, their practices require consistency and dedication, with meetups being three days a week. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, team members either drive down individually after school or take the bus together to arrive at the waterfront.
If interested in joining the team, contact Evens or Butterfield, or join them at the docks at South Waterfront Park from 4 pm to 5:30 pm for their practice.
A usual practice would be focusing on paddling and braking technique, and drilling as well. Their practice route usually takes them from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Old Spaghetti Factory and back.
Activities at practice vary; some days consist of conditioning and endurance training, while other days can focus on racing starts or other drills.
While all levels of experience are accepted, it’s still a competitive and difficult sport. Positions include paddlers (keeping the boat moving), two timers (main paddlers at the front of the boat who keep the rhythm), a caller (shouting orders), a tiller (steering the boat) and a flag catcher (grabs the flag at the end of the race).
During the competition, there are typically three or four races on the first day, and students race against other teams in your time group. Time groups consist of dragon boat teams who generally race around the same times. During the second day, the bracket narrows down and elimination starts to occur until the best teams of certain time groups race each other.
The goal of the competition is to race 500 meters, and see whichever team can grab their team’s flag first.
Last year’s team ranked well, placing a commendable fourth place among the open (mixed gender and all ages) category.
“I mean we want to win, we got fourth last year, but you know, there’s always room to improve. But I don’t think we’re as focused on winning as just having a good time and getting some exercise,” said Evens.
At the festival, there is typically excitement and cheerfulness in the atmosphere. The IBW Dragon Guardians annually design a team t-shirt to wear on race days. Other teams dress up by wearing wigs or playful costumes.
One can support the Dragon Guardians and watch the high-energy races of the Dragon Boats for free on Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8, at the South Hawthorn Waterfront Park. The IBW Dragon Guardians will compete in the open category both days.
“For racing, I love the exhilaration, like after you’ve done a race…you just get all the endorphins and everything, it’s really fun,” said Evens.
While nervousness does hang in the air around competition, there are always fun rivalries to distract them. Notoriously, a dragon boat team of teachers, the No Teacher Left Behind Dragon Boat Team, jokingly talks back to the IBW Dragon Guardians, enticing their customary rivalry.
“I really like seeing a group of kids come together and meet each other and become a community and then, race day, during the Rose Festival…we hang out all weekend for the races. We share a lot of sweets and watch a bunch of races together, it’s a lot of fun,” said Butterfield.
The IBW Dragon Guardians are a team filled with inclusion, festiveness and energy. Don’t forget to look out for them at the upcoming Rose Festival.
