Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation hosted its eighth annual dragon boat races at Promenade Park over the weekend.
Dragon boat racing is a Chinese water sport that dates back nearly 2,000 years but only gained international attention in the late 1970s. In American cities where these races are held, their purpose is usually to encourage and strengthen teamwork among participants while celebrating Chinese traditions and culture.
The boats are very large – about 46 feet long – and are usually made of materials such as fiberglass or carbon fiber. In professional competitions, teams consist of 22 members: 20 paddlers, a “helmsman” who stands at the back of the boat and controls direction, and a drummer.
The job of a drummer on a dragon boat is crucial: he must provide an effective, consistent beat to which the paddlers can synchronize their rhythm.
For the dragon boat races in Fort Wayne on Saturday, registration cost $1,500 and teams had to at least 20 members, one of whom acted as helmsman – in this case “captain” – and another as drummer. All teams had to take part in a rehearsal at least once.
Participating teams ranged from staff at a local McDonald’s to organizations like Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana. The Cleveland Dragon Boat Association was also there for the event.
According to Steve McDaniel, director of parks and recreation, 20 teams have registered this year, 11 more than in 2023.
“Dragon boat racing was one of the events we created to get people back on our rivers for recreation,” McDaniel said. “And not only is it a great cultural event, but it gets people back on our rivers, and that’s what riverfront development is all about.”
The races were originally scheduled to be a two-day event with an opening ceremony and live music on Friday, but the weather changed plans and all celebrations were postponed until Saturday.
Walking up from Harrison Street to Promenade Park, one came to the “Athlete Village,” where the participating teams hung out under branded tents in the shade of the rather aggressive morning sun. This area was dominated by a giant, sleek inflatable dragon – a new addition to this year’s festivities in Fort Wayne.
The opening ceremony paid homage to the Chinese roots of dragon boat racing and included the practice of “awakening the dragon.” The Fort Wayne Chinese Friends and Family Association performed the ritual of “punching” the dragon’s eyes – this is said to give the dragon the strength to fulfill its duty and thus awaken it to full life.
Thousands had already made their way to Promenade Park at 10 a.m. for the first run of the day.
The races featured two boats racing toward the finish line, making the race a series of 75- to 90-second adrenaline rushes for athletes and fans alike. Teams were ranked not by their race results against an opponent, but by their combined time, meaning if the first run didn’t go so well, there was an opportunity to recover later in the day.
In the first round, several teams were within a second of the overall winner, but none could beat Steel Dynamics. Don Hall’s team was behind them, finishing just four hundredths of a second behind their time.
Elliott Lawson was a captain at Steel Dynamics.
“It’s really a labor of love. We have a team that’s giving it their all and we want to win. We feel good,” Lawson said. “We feel like we left something behind and we believe we can do even better in the next round.”
She nearly performed equally well in the second round, with their time being about seven hundredths of a second better than the first round.
Unfortunately for them, Don Hall’s, the Cleveland Dragon Boat Association and Shambaugh & Son – all of whom finished top in the first round – rallied between rounds and beat both the time of Steel Dynamics. This led to Steel Dynamics fourth, Don Hall was able to avenge his narrow defeat in the first round and take the lead.
But this year it was the guests from Cleveland who took home the gold with a final time of just under 1:14. Don Hall again came within four hundredths of a second and won silver.
Although Lawson lost the lead, his team’s involvement was not Only about winning.
“We want the team to take away that we are all in the same boat. We row together, we win together,” he said. “That’s kind of the philosophy of our family: We row together, we win together. We win together, we lose together. Ultimately, it’s about camaraderie.”
Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation has already set August 1 and 2 as the tentative dates for next year’s dragon boat races. The full results for this year’s races can be found here.
