Sian Cornwell was 15 years old when she started paddling with a dragon boat team while living in Comox on Vancouver Island.
Currently at age 22 and residing in the qathet region, Cornwell is preparing to race in the 16th World Dragon Boat Championships this August. The international race is held in Pattaya, Thailand, and hosted by the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF).
“One of my friends was on the youth team over there [Comox] and looking for friends to join her,” said Cornwell, remembering how she started racing. “It was kind of an accident I guess, and I ended up really liking it; I’ve been on a few teams over the years.”
For the past two years, Cornwell has practiced dragon boat racing on Powell Lake and this will be her first year as a coach for her team Zunga Warriors. Occasionally, she joins another local team, Paddling for Life, for races and festivals.
Last October the paddler travelled to Vancouver to try out for a spot with the Canadian national team and was successful in her endeavour. Cornwell landed a spot to paddle in the world championships with the Canadian national para dragon boat team as a support paddler. Half the boat are para paddlers (athletes with various physical disabilities) and half are supporter paddlers (those without physical disabilities). This will be the first time Canada is sending a para team to the world championships.
“We are competing against other para teams but we do the same distances and races as everyone else,” said Cornwell.
She was the only person from this region to try out, but was up against paddlers from across Canada. Selected to sit with the Canadian national team, Cornwall believes she had an edge.
“I have an advantage because I started quite young; many people usually don’t start until university or even older,” said Cornwell. “I’ve paddled the dragon boat and on the outrigger team, too.”
One of the tests for the national team was racing in a single-person outrigger canoe, which Cornwell was familiar with. When comparing dragon boating to outrigger canoeing she said, “the stroke style is similar, but the boat style is completely different.
“The Dragon boat has 20 benches [fitting up to 22 people] with two people on either side; the outrigger canoe is narrow and much smaller, fitting up to only six people,” added Cornwell.
One of the most challenging aspects of dragon boat racing is the timing.
“Everyone has to paddle in time and that’s a struggle for many teams to nail down,” said Cornwell. “The front two people are the lead paddlers and they set the time for the rest of the team.”
Many people are probably familiar with seeing dragon boats out on the water. They are quite large and a drummer sits on the front and hits the drum for every stroke. There is also a lot of yelling, so paddlers can hear the leader’s call.
“I love talking about dragon boating whenever I can,” said Cornwell. “I am enjoying coaching because I feel like I’m getting to know the people on the team a bit better.”
Cornwell is excited to travel to Thailand and plans on staying a little longer after the world championships to explore the country and hopefully see an elephant. The events in Thailand take place in a freshwater reservoir about two hours from the capital of Bangkok.
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