Team name: Gorging Dragons Premier
Founded: 1995
Team type/Race division: Premier high-performance program – mixed and gender crews (ages 18-48)
Practice times: Typically, Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:00 – 8:30pm and Sundays 9:30 – 11:30 am, year-round. Additional practice options available in Cumberland and Nanaimo.
About the team: The first dragon boat team formed on Vancouver Island, Gorging Dragons Premier continues to be the Island leader in high performance training. Our program is geared towards preparing paddlers to compete at National Championships and Club Crew World Championships (CCWC), and our ideal members enjoy hard training, and love competing against the best teams in Canada and around the world. We offer on-water coaching and training in dragon boat and outrigger canoe, as well as dry-land weightlifting and paddle erg work. We’re always recruiting, and will race in open (men’s), women’s, and mixed crews as the numbers in our program allow. At the 2022 CCWC, our premier team entered a mixed small boat crew who earned a 2,000m gold medal, and a silver medal in both the 200m and 500m distances. At the 2024 CCWC, our premier team entered a women’s small boat crew who earned a 2,000m silver medal, and a gold medal in both the 200m and 500m distances bringing the team’s total medal count from CCWC events to 11.
Coaches: The Gorging Dragons high performance coaching team is led by Tom Arnold.
Festivals attended: Gorge Super Sprints, Vessi 500 Championship, Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival, Victoria Dragon Boat Festival. The Gorging Dragons teams attend the Canadian National Championships every odd year to try and qualify for the Club Crew World Championships held every even year.
Contact information: info@vipaddling.com – You can also find out more about the Gorging Dragons team on our Facebook page here.
Sponsors: If you’re interested in sponsoring our team, please reach out to Tom Arnold.
Recruiting?: Yes – recruiting both men and women ages 18-48. No paddling experience required. We are part of the high-performance program, so prospective team members should have a reasonable fitness level and desire to train hard.
