July 16, 2007

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival, with over 190 teams participating, is the largest of its kind in Canada. The Art Bank has sponsored a dragon boat team for the Festival every year since 2000 and won the Women's Petite category in 2005 and 2006. As the number of teams participating and the dollars raised grow, so does the level of competition.

The Art Bank team of 22-plus dedicated women practice two mornings a week for two months before the Festival begins.  On the last practice before the big race began this year, they had a special guest aboard their practice boat - A-Channel’s Jeff Hooper got his “feet wet” learning how to dragon boat race.
 

And he was schooled by some pretty skilled athletes - this year's team took home silver in the Women's Petite Final.  They also raised over $5,500 which earned them the opportunity to enter the Charity Cup Challenge.  The ladies came in 4th in that race.

Congratulations to the team and a special thank you to everyone that made donations.  This year's charities were The Ottawa Senators Foundation and Roger's House, Centretown Laundry Co-op, Junior Achievement of Eastern Ontario, and Special Olympics Ontario.