Beautiful weather welcomed the 15th anniversary of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, June 13, 2015 at Little Lake.
Seventy-one dragon boat teams comprising around 1,400 paddlers came together to raise funds for the purchase of a mammography unit for the Breast Assessment Centre at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).
There were 63 community teams, with names like “The Rack Attack” and “Lovin’ Our Boobies”, and eight breast cancer survivor teams, including local teams “Survivors Abreast – Spirit” and “Survivors Abreast – Spirit 2”.
The races started at 8:30 a.m., with morning heats determining team placement for the afternoon races. Morning races were followed by opening ceremonies featuring local dignitaries and the Peterborough Pop Ensemble leading the national anthem, the pink carnation ceremony (where the names of former members of survivor teams who had lost their battle with breast cancer were read aloud), and the special breast cancer survivor race featuring the eight survivor teams.
For its 15th year, the festival’s fundraising goal was $215,000. The top fundraising team, Survivors Abreast Courage, raised $15,210.85. The top individual fundraisers were Sherry Watson of Survivors Abreast Courage, who raised $2,765, Michelle Thorton of Survivors Abreast Spirit, who raised $2,150, and Jennifer Edgerton of Dragon R Butts, who raised $2,114.30.
Here are some photos from this year’s event by kawarthaNOW staff photographer Linda McIlwain.
