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Regatta expected to draw crowd / Colorful dragon boats to race across Pasadena Lake
Houston Chronicle
October 14, 2004
Section: This Week, Page 1, Edition 2 Star
By THAYER EVANS, Houston Chronicle Correspondent

It didn't take much to convince Houston resident Paul Dunham to try the sport of dragon -boat racing. An outrigger canoe enthusiast, Dunham first crawled into one of the elongated dragon boats three years ago at the suggestion of a friend. Since then, he has become so involved with the sport that he traveled with a U.S. team to Bangkok, Thailand, in 2002 to participate in a dragon -boat competition. "What I really, really like about it is the involvement of the international community," said Dunham, 41, an airlines manager who has lived in the Heights area of Houston since 1995. "It really builds a bridge across cultural lines." Dunham will be on one of nearly 50 teams participating in the Houston Dragon Boat Association's inaugural Gulf Coast International Dragon Boat Regatta on Pasadena Lake at Clear Lake Park Oct. 23-24. Dunham is a member of the Continental Airlines team, which has won the Houston Dragon Boat Festival on Buffalo Bayou three consecutive years and will be competing at the regatta .. "At first, I wasn't sure how 22 people in a boat would gel," he said. "I was like, `Oh my God, that's a lot of people, how can we get everybody to go as one team?' But it works."

Besides dragon -boat racing, the event will feature food vendors and various types of entertainment, including martial arts, Polynesian dancing and live bands, said Caroline Long, one of the event's organizers. Admission is free and organizers are expecting some 5,000 to 6,000 visitors, Long said. She said the racing is divided into five divisions: corporate, community, municipal, breast cancer survivors and youth. Long said each boat requires 20 paddlers, one drummer and one person who steers it. She said the distance for the races at Pasadena Lake will be 500 meters, which the top teams in the world can complete in two minutes. "The great thing about the sport is that it's not tremendously difficult," said Long, 29, a Houston native and a chiropractor. "It is an aerobic exercise, but if someone is just willing to put forth the effort and have fun with 21 of their other friends, it's a great time." Thirty teams will compete Oct. 23, and between 16 to 20 teams will be in action Oct. 24, Long said. Among the teams participating in the municipal division will be the cities of League City, Nassau Bay and Seabrook, she said. Long said teams will come from Canada and the United Kingdom. The Ukrainian national dragon -boat team might also participate and is working to obtain the necessary visas needed to attend, she said.

The origin of dragon -boat racing dates to 277 B.C. in China, when Qu Yuan, a scholar during the Ch'u Dynasty, fell out of favor with the king, Long said. Embarrassed, Yuan threw himself into the Mi Lo River, which prompted people to spend days looking for him, she said. Long said they used colorful fishing boats with dragon heads to ward off spirits and loud drums to scare away sea creatures during their search, but never found Yuan. That, she said, started the custom of dragon -boat racing.

For the regatta , Long said, the association has rented four boats from a Toronto company for $500 each per day. Long said the company is driving the boats to the Clear Lake area for an additional $6,000. A "brand new, fully loaded" dragon boat costs $15,000, Long said. The boats measure 40 feet long and 4 feet wide and weigh an average of 500 pounds, she said. She said the Houston Dragon Boat Association would like to form its own dragon -boat racing league and compete against other cities, both domestically and abroad. For now, Long said she's just looking forward to bringing dragon -boat racing to the Clear Lake area. "It's been an incredible journey," she said. "We're an all-volunteer run organization. What we have accomplished is through the efforts of a lot of dedicated people who have put in a lot of time and effort. But this is something we truly believe in. I'm just proud to see it grow." ..

WANT TO GO?
The public is invited to watch the inaugural Gulf Coast International Dragon Boat Regatta ..

When: noon-4 p.m. Oct. 23, noon-3 :30 p.m. Oct. 24 (practice from 8 a.m.-noon both days)
Where: Clear Lake Park, 5100 NASA Parkway