2003 Races & Activities

Machestic's Second Annual Holiday Party – Dec 13
hosted by Marianne and Stan

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cander Foundation
RACE FOR THE CURE – Oct 19
The Machestic Dragons proudly participated in this walk where more than 14,300 women, men and children ran or walked (including 1,000 survivors), raising more than $1.4 million.

NJDBC Dare Devil Challenge – Oct 5

Philadephia Dragon Boat Festival – Oct 4
Although cold and wet, we particpated in the largest BCS field to date in the NY/NJ/PA area. The BCS Challenge included: Against the Wind (1st: 2:30.84); Hope Afloat (2nd: 2:31.05; Southern Survivors (3rd: 2:57.80; and Machestic Dragons (3:01.15). "We may have finished last – but we got to play!"

NJDBC 9-11 Race for Charity – Sept 13

New York City Dragon Boat Festival – Aug 9-10
We brought 4 gals up to field the first ever Breast Cancer Team for the NYC races. But 4 isn't enough, and we needed the NJDBC crew to fill in our open seats as we finished 4th as "Machestic Dragons BCS" in the women's race. Bonnie, Denise, Linda and Midge enjoyed the day and the food provided by the NJDBC.

Montreal Dragon Boat Festival – July 19-20
Baru, Denise, Midge and Nancy headed north with the NJ Dragon Boat Club to check out the French speaking Montreal Dragon Boat Races. These gals did their races with the NJDBC and also hooked up with the local BCS crew, Two Abreast! Now talk about gals just paddling around to have a good time! Our Canadian hosts treated us to a food spread and refreshments. Outside of dragonboating, we tooled around town with a horse drawn cart, cafe, mt climbing and shopping! Just like at home, but with a French accent!

NJ Dragon Boat Club's Breast Cancer Awareness Races
Lake Parsippany, NJ – July 13
This race was a nice effort to promote the progress of the BCS programs. We brought 10 gals to the event and received nice ribbon pins from our NJDBC friends. We raced against the Philly Jrs, NJ Jrs and combined with them all to get in more races. Overall we enjoyed the day, but missed our Hope Afloat friends as they encountered car trouble on the way up. We impressed ourselves with our cool looking team shirts and the folks cheered us everytime we crossed the finish line!

Washington, DC Dragon Boat Festival – May 24-25
The Machestic Dragons Make Our First Official Appearance! With Bailey steering, Baru, Linda F., Barbara, Carol, Denise, Marianne, Midge, Sharon and Terry, with the help of five of our Hope Afloat sisters, edged out Philadelphia's Against the Wind in the 250m BCS demo race. But more importantly, both crews recieved gold medals for winning their struggle against Breast Cancer. The MD and HA paddlers hooked up with some Killer Guppies and DC Dragons to fill out the NJ Dragon Boat crew in the Open Mixed division. Rain cancelled the picnic but it didn't cancel the fun! The week of heavy rains filled the Potomac and made for fast races – except for this motley crew who finished last in every 250m and 500m race leading up to the Sunday afternnon finals. And then something happenedÉthanks to the DC Dragons and Killer Guppies, we finished 3rd in the 250m open division finals and 2nd in the 500m open division finals!

Dragon Boat Eye Dotting Ceremony – May 2

Our First Season on Mercer Lake with our very own Dragon Boat – April 14
THANK YOU ICEA!! We got our dragon boat courtesy of ICEA and she is beautifu! We pledge to continue the spirit of the International Culture Exchange Association donation, by sharing this spirit in the finest traditions of dragon boating! Each year we have such a blast, we look forward towards trying to top it!