Dragon drummers keep up the beat
They set a fun pace at boat race festival
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/07/2010 (5735 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The drummer, in the humble opinion of drummers, is the most important member of a Dragon boat team.
"If you don’t have the drummer, that’s what keeps your pace," said Marliese Friesen, after pounding the KGS Group to victory on a bongo drum in one leg of the Dragon Boat Festival.
The drummer sits on the helm in a chair too narrow for a child in kindergarten and keeps rhythm for rowers. "You’re better off to lose a row of paddlers than the drummer," maintained Friesen.
About 40 teams are competing this weekend in the Dragon Boat Festival at Manitoba Water Ski Park. The annual event raises money for the Health Sciences Centre Foundation, bringing in about $50,000 per year.
The usual assortment of colourfully named teams are out, like Blazing Paddles, Up Y’Oars, Chemo Savy, Diggin’ Divas, the Eh Team and Wake Warriors. There is also a beer garden and live music.
The sport is slowly growing, said Jerome Seremak, an organizer with the Manitoba Paddle Association. A high school team is entered this year for the first time.
"This sport attracts way more women than men — I don’t know why — and it usually attracts ages 30 and up," Seremak said.
Teams are made up of 10 rows of two rowers each, plus the drummer in front and the steerer in back.
The boats look centipedal on the water with their coloured paddles flashing like little legs. The bongo drummers add the air of a Santana concert when boats approach the finish line.
Another drummer, who also (of course) regards drummers as key to the race, is Deborah (Pinky) Simmons.
"Yeah, (drummers) keep it together," said Simmons, who drums for two boat teams and rows on a third. Last year, her 60-year-old father was part of the Manitoba team that won the bronze medal at the World Games in Korea.
Simmons takes her nickname seriously, wearing a pink outfit and pink Mouseketeer ears, pink eyeliner and pink-streaked hair.
"That’s for team flair," she said. "I have a pink boa, too, and gold tights that I forgot in the tent."
The races wind up Sunday.
bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca