Dragon Boat Festival approaches in Hong Kong - 40 years Stanley International DB Races

Since a couple of weeks the dense dragon boat season of Hong Kong is already in full swing. It started with the L50 (where ever that name comes from?) organised by the HKDBA, then a Fishermen race on Cheung Chau followed by Po toi, Deep Water Bay, Stanley Fishermen and the new Stanley Warm Up, all these races happened already and forgive me if I have forgotten one.

Being still in a lack of some official results, we will get them soon, all the races where exiting events and blessed by good weather.

Well there are still quite a number of races coming up before the Dragon Boat Festival.

For the first time the Lamma Dragons are organizing an event next to the Power Station on Lamma Island on June 10th. On the same day also the Tai Tam Tuk Fishermen Race takes place. Being exited about the new Lamma Race, Dragon Boat Net will come out at least for half a day and do its best for some nice coverage. However, the plan is to be also in Tai Tam for the second half of the day.

On June 17th the Chai Wan Fishermen are calling for their race in the Chai Wan Typhoon Shelter. This hopefully is again a chance for us of getting some nice pictures of 50 men boats in race.

Most busy will be June 19th, which is the Dragon Boat Festival in honor to Qu Yuan. There will be races all over Hong Kong like in Aberdeen, Sha Tin, Discovery Bay, Sai kung and many other places all over the territory.

The biggest of all, the Stanley Internationals as the paddlers call it. Well, the official name, with respect to the new name giving sponsor, is AIA Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships.

AIA is already known for sponsoring the SMUGS Team and doing a lot for charity and the sport via the AIA Foundation for which the SMUGS' Pool Party, a couple of weeks ago, raised some funds.

The AIA Stanley Race, sorry for not repeating the long name, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and has managed to become an amazing huge one day event with now more than 200 teams partizipating.

Let's repeat that: 200 teams racing in an one day dragon boat event !!!

That means at least 4.000 paddlers + Drummers + Helmsmen + Race Officials + all the Media + an expected 10.000 spectators, which might be a low end estimation.

Stanley Main Beach will be packed and crowded and one big party. Don't miss it !!!

The whole thing is organized by the Stanley Residents Association which is a not-for-profit organization established to support the residents of the fishing village of Stanley. Over the years, the Association has worked to develop the community spirit of the village through numerous recreational and sporting events of which the Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships is the largest. Alongside government grants, revenues raised by the Championships are one of the major sources of funding for the organization each year. In 2001 the Stanley Dragon Boat Association (SDBA) was created as a subsidiary of the Stanley Residents Association to take a more positive role in the development of the sport in Hong Kong and across the world. Since its establishment the SDBA has invested heavily in facilities and equipment, including a dragon boat depot at Stanley Main Beach and new boats, to ensure that Stanley maintains its place as one of the world’s biggest hubs for dragon boat racing.

Officially the season ends in Hong Kong with the Hong Kong Internationals, traditionally being held the weekend after the Dragon Boat Festival and this time, because of the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong hand-over back to China, being organised not only by the HKDBA but together with the Leisure and Cultural Department of the HK Government.

The location is along the promenade of Tsim Sha Tsui East on Kowloon side. This is for spectators for sure a better location to watch. If the condition are similar as two years ago they will have a lot of action to see when in each heat perhaps at least one boat might be sinking due to choppy waters. It could become a strategic decision for the teams to give up two crew members on paddling and getting them the job as permanent bailers.

We are also looking forward to this event, which concludes the dragon boat season in Hong Kong even there still will be some more late races after that.

Dragon Boat Net will be there and report for you, - stay tuned !!!

Henning Wiekhorst / Dragon Boat Net