In the quiet of race-day morning, when the waters are still and the tents are still sleepy, Carol Mutton finds her inspiration.

“It’s that moment, again and again, that reignites my commitment,” says the long-time paddler and festival organizer. Mutton is one of the originals — having been part of the organizing team right from the day the first ad ran in the local newspaper in the fall of 1999.

“Lots has happened since then,” Mutton laughs, looking at her co-chair this year, Michelle Thornton, who is preparing to take the festival torch from Mutton.

Both women are breast cancer survivors, and both chose to take up the cause of breast cancer awareness as a way to make a difference for others. They also both hoped it would help them channel their personal thoughts about breast cancer into a positive community effort.

Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival is the brainchild and administrative responsibility of host organization Survivors Abreast. Like Mutton and Thornton, the festival and organization are linked by one overall goal — to create awareness, inspire hope, and raise money to help those diagnosed with breast cancer.

Survivors Abreast does that by enthusiastically paddling in the Peterborough festival, as well as several other races each year. The festival does it by drawing together the community in support of breast cancer awareness and by raising funds for the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment at Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Breast Assessment Centre.

Two for one: an impassioned team of 42 paddlers, each of whom owns at least one piece of the complicated puzzle that makes up the June 10th race day.

“We have an amazing team,” Thornton says.

From volunteer recruiters to volunteer co-ordinators, to those managing pre- and post- festival responsibilities (such as team recruitment, food services, financial details, and more), the Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival co-chairs agree there’s really just one thing that makes it all possible.

“Great leadership,” Mutton says.

From the start, she says the coaches have been key to inspiring the women of Survivors Abreast. In fact, it was the team’s first coach — experienced dragon-boater Len Minty — who stirred the team to launch the festival in 2001.

“They’re our teachers, our leaders,” Mutton explains. “They’re at our practices to guide us, they’re at our races to encourage us, and they’re there afterward to inspire us to do it all over again. That’s why the festival is such a success.”

Because, she adds, you can’t separate the spirit that is in the boat from the heart of the festival.

“They’re one and the same, really,” she says. “The festival is run by a committee of community volunteers and Survivors Abreast members but, really, it’s the spirit of our paddlers that pumps through the festival.”

Which brings it all back to race day. Before the participants arrive, before spectators line the shores, Mutton and Thornton will meet to take a deep breath of the morning and savour the moment.

“You’ll feel it when you arrive there at dawn,” Mutton tells Thornton. “There’s so much hope and promise waiting to unfold.”

Here’s what’s happening and when at the 2017 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival at Del Crary Park on Saturday, June 10th.

Calendar of events

• 8:15 a.m.: Awakening the Dragon (Opening Ceremony) featuring “The Dragon” and local dignitaries
• 8:50 a.m.: Morning races begin
• 10 – 11 a.m.: Jerry Jerome and the Cardells Steel Band performs
• 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.: Face painting
• 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Flower Ceremony featuring the Peterborough Pop Ensemble
• 12:10 – 1 p.m.: Jerry Jerome and the Cardells Steel Band performs
• 12:30 p.m.: Afternoon races begin
• 3:40 p.m.: Cup Races & Regatta Championship begin.

All times are approximate.

Other activities and items of note

• #dragonbragging Selfie Photo Booth! Bring your camera or phone, dress up in provided costumes, slip into the “dragon boat” and take a “selfie” — who knows, The Dragon may even join you! The cost is $2 per person or $10 for five or more people, with all proceeds support the 2017 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival. #dragonbragging Selfie Photo Booth is located next to the Awards tent.
• 50/50 Draw tickets will be on sale at the event, with all proceeding support the 2017 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.
• Face painting will be available for children between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (located next to #dragonbragging Selfie Booth).
• Jerry Jerome and the Cardells Steel Band will be performing from 10 to 11 a.m. and 12:10 to 1 p.m.
• Bring your own reusable water bottle (or buy one at the One-Stop-Dragon Shop) to refill at one of the Peterborough Utilities Group mobile drinking water stations. Disposable plastic water bottles will not be sold at the Festival.
• Parking is limited at Del Crary Park but the Festival has free shuttle buses running all day, courtesy of Coach Canada. Shuttles run from the Evinrude Centre (south side) and the Simcoe City Bus Depot on Simcoe St. Stops are at the King St, Louis St. and Dalhousie St. parking lots. The shuttle buses run every 20 minutes. The first bus leaves Evinrude at 7:30 a.m. and the last bus leaves the Festival (for Evinrude) at 4:15 p.m.
• The Lions Club will be back selling hamburgers, sausage and hot dog meal deals (includes bag of chips and a pop).
• Massage services will be available to Festival participants, courtesy of Oxford College.

Race schedule

Morning Challenge (seeded by order of registration)

The flower ceremony takes place at 11:24 a.m. featuring all breast cancer survivor team boats.

Afternoon Challenge (seeded by morning times, from fastest to slowest)

Visitors’ Knock-Out Finals (Out-of-town teams only, 200m knock-out, seeded by combined times)

Mixed Finals (Mixed community teams only, seeded by combined times)

Junior Finals (Junior teams only, seeded by combined times)

Ladies’ Finals (Ladies’ teams only, seeded by combined times)

Mackenzie Cup (BCS teams only, seeded by combined times)

Regatta Championship (Fastest four times from Races 39, 40, and 41 – seeded by finals-only time)

You can support Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival and help keep breast cancer screening state-of-the-art.

Donations and pledges for individual paddlers or teams will help funding a new mammography machine for the Breast Assessment Centre at at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. The new machine will help ensure women (and men — yes, they can ger breast cancer too) from across our region have access to world-class breast cancer care when they need it most.

There’s still time to sponsor a team or a paddler for the 2017 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, June 10th.

To sponsor an individual paddler, visit the donation page at Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival website, click the “Individual” button at the top, and enter all or part of the person’s name you want to sponso in the search box. You can also leave the search box empty and click the magnifying class to browse through all the registered paddlers (there are almost 800 of them).

The sponsor a team, you can do the same by selecting the Team button at the top. Or else you can use the table of teams we’ve provided below.

In a day filled with competitive spirit, race preparations, and the general hubbub of thousands who gather on the shore of Little Lake to take part in Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival, a few quiet moments will be set aside midday on June 10th to remember the reason for the gathering.

“The Carnation Ceremony can be a very emotional experience,” says this year’s festival co-chair Carol Mutton, “especially if the team has lost someone recently.”

The Carnation Ceremony has become a traditional part of Dragon Boat Festivals around the world in which breast cancer survivors are participating.

It originated at a race in Vancouver in 1996, when one of the paddlers brought fushia-coloured roses from her garden that just happened to be in full bloom and matched the dragon-boating shirts her team would wear.

The paddlers tucked them into their headbands as they raced.

The following year, the sentiment was repeated in honour of a novice paddler who relapsed and was unable to take part in the race. A teammate brought pink flowers as tokens of their hope for their friend’s survival. Instead of the paddle salute, the team spontaneously threw their pink flowers onto the water.

By 1998, flower-tossing was co-ordinated into a ceremony, and it has since become rooted into the dragon boating culture.

After the cancer survivors race, usually mid-day at the Peterborough festival, the boats gather near the shoreline and a lull comes over the crowd. In Peterborough, the Peterborough Pop Ensemble has provided the musical meditation for the few minutes before and after the names of those who have lost their cancer battle are read.

In fact, when Peterborough hosted the International Dragon Boat Festival in 2010, the Ensemble’s music director Barbara Monahan wrote a piece specifically for the event, “Never Really Gone”, a piece that has been requested again and again and is now a permanent part of Peterborough’s Carnation Ceremony.

“It’s just that sense of loss, and it’s also celebratory,” Mutton says. “Celebrating that we are all alive, and hoping for a bright future.”

All photos by Linda McIlwain / kawarthaNOW.

Gina Lee manages the pre-race practices for Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.

When it comes to organizing dozens of teams and practice times — and roping in coaches, volunteers, steers-people, water time, and even gas for the safety boat — she not only does it, but loves it.

“I’m kind of a spreadsheet queen,” Lee says. “I love doing that. I have one of the earliest contact with the team captains. I get to welcome them to the festival.”

Registration for the Peterborough Dragon Boat festival opens in February, and that’s when team captains hear from Lee. The earlier a team registers, she says, the better choice for practice times it will have.

“I love working with the team captains. Everyone is there for the right reasons and the best of reasons.”

Once a team has a confirmed practice time, two other things happen: first, they’re offered the chance to buy a second practice time, and, second, Lee assigns the team a practice coach.

The practice coaches have trained specifically to work with community paddlers on the water. In late May and early June, Little Lake in Peterborough is dotted with dragon boats — some taking on the challenge of dragon boating for the first time.

“Safety is a key component,” Lee says. All paddlers wear personal floatation devices and are taught how to embark and disembark the boat safely.

They’re also taught how to hold the boat, and basic commands like “Take it Away” and “Paddles Up.”

Equally important, Lee says, is that every paddler feels comfortable.

“We want to make sure they have a great experience. The more fun they can have on the festival day, the better. We really strive to make the practices fun so the paddlers look forward to race day.”

And, for physical comfort, paddlers are also taught how to paddle without hurting themselves.

Lee says one of the most rewarding parts of her commitment to the festival is seeing a brand new team learn to paddle in synch.

“It’s really something to see a brand new team leave the dock for their practice,” she laughs. “They’re all over the place.

“Then you see them come back in, and they’re all paddling in synch and have complete control of the boat. It’s really quite amazing.”

On race day, there will be royalty.

Just check out plans for the Dragon’s Lair this year — they include a butler and footmen, a housekeeper, and possibly a tea boy.

Under the supervision of Survivors Abreast team member Diane Couse, the lair will be what she calls “cooshy and comfy.”

“It’ll be what we would want,” she adds.

Those in line to the Dragon’s Lair throne will be the team that raises the most this year. Last year, it was the aptly titled RBC Queen Bees.

“After last year, we checked in with the Queen Bees and asked for their feedback,” Couse says. “This year, we’ve incorporated as much as we could.”

Until the last minute, it’s hard to know who will occupy the lair on June 10th. But whoever accedes to the lair this year will be privy to some royal treatment.

A butler will serve food and ensure comfort, the pantry will be stocked by It’s a Wrap, and there will be a privacy screen to ensure paddlers can change between races.

“We also have a comfort station specifically for our lair paddlers,” Couse adds. While the comfort station will, by necessity, be a Don on the Job, the atmosphere will be royal.

“We also have a social director for the lair who will try to fill the lulls in the day,” Couse adds. “There will be trivia challenges and games to keep the fun going throughout the day, and of course, the social director will ensure the paddlers get to the marshal area on time.”

One of the improvements to the lair this year includes the size: it will be 10 feet longer than it was last year. And it will include a large banner to mark the spot.

“Part of this is to reward the top fundraisers,” Couse says. “The other part is to inspire next year’s fundraisers. We want people to see the lair and want it for their team.”

Like the other members of Survivors Abreast, Couse has battled breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2008 “out of the blue,” she has had two mastectomies, a hysterectomy, radiation and chemotherapy, and was off work for a year and a half.

“When it eventually came time for me to retire,” she says, “I wanted to give back.”

She does that by working at My Left Breast, paddling twice a week year round with Survivors Abreast and, this year, coordinating the Dragon’s Lair.

Her reward?

Says Couse, “There’s nothing like being on the lake on a summer evening. There’s a certain sound that the paddles make when we’re all in synch that soothes the soul.”

All photos courtesy of Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival.