If you’re headed to Portage Lakes State Park on Saturday, you just might spot some dragons. Not the long-toothed Loch Ness kind that live under the sea, but dragon boats that glide across the water.
Members of the Dragon Dream Team, all wearing pink life jackets, were practicing their strokes on a recent warm summer evening. The women remained in sync when paddling the 40-foot watercraft. They were beautiful, strong, energetic — and breast cancer survivors.
The team, which hones its skills three times a week at Craftsman Park on Rex Lake, is Ohio’s first all-breast cancer survivor dragon boat team. On Saturday, they are hosting the second annual Dragons on the Lake Festival featuring 29 teams, 600 paddlers and six boats. The day begins at 8:15 a.m. with a ceremonial “awakening of the dragons.” Once the racing begins at 9 a.m., it will be nonstop action with dragon boats heading to the finish line every 12 minutes.
The races are fast and furious, typically lasting one to two minutes. There will also be activities at the beach until the closing ceremony around 3:30 p.m.
Sitting in the front of the boat, petite Mary Hlavac of Green beat on the drum, its vibrations echoing in the cove. It was her job to help the 20 paddlers with technique, keeping them moving at the same pace.
When asked how she got that cake job, she laughed — noting it was her size combined with problems with her hands and elbows that earned her the spot. Being a boisterous musician who knows how to keep a beat didn’t hurt either.
“I’m an outdoor person who loves being here,” said Hlavac, an 18-year cancer survivor. “Getting out on the lake is great.”
The women, who come to Portage Lakes from all over Northeast Ohio, said it’s the camaraderie that they share with the other women that is as important, or maybe even more so, than the exercise. Throughout the year, the team has picnics, parties and other social events.
Anyone can participate
Their ages range from late 20s to around 80, said Marilyn Purdy, an eight-year survivor from Bath. And anyone, regardless of experience or skill level, can participate.
“What we try to do is live our team motto: good quality of life following breast cancer. Dragon boating is certainly one way to show others that can be very true, and it is true for us,” she explained. “We are not only a dragon boat team, but we are also a great support system.”
Dragon boating is an ancient Chinese sport. Present-day dragon boats are similar to those used more than a thousand years ago. The Dragon Dream Team notes that it’s the second most popular team sport in the world, after soccer. Nearly 50 million people race dragon boats worldwide.
The local team was started by Jessica Mader, a breast cancer survivor from Silver Lake.
In 2006, while recuperating from surgery at her summer home on a lake in Nova Scotia, the 76-year-old woke up one morning and found a paddle and note on her front porch. The note instructed her to show up at a dock where she would meet members of the “Bosom Buddies,” a Canadian breast cancer survivor dragon boat team.
Thrilled that she had morphed from a convalescing patient into a summer athlete, when she returned to Ohio she told her plastic surgeon, Dr. Douglas Wagner, about her adventure. Impressed, he offered to buy a dragon boat if she could find enough people to form a team.
Today, there are about 80 on the roster and around 50 active paddlers. With so many participants, a second boat was purchased. Many practice nights, both boats are filled with grinning women in pink.
Message of hope
Last year, the first Dragons on the Lake Festival was launched to benefit Boatloads of Hope, a breast cancer and community outreach in Northeast Ohio. They give beautiful pashmina wraps to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who are undergoing radiation or chemotherapy in area hospitals, along with a powerful message of hope.
“I think what makes them [the wraps] so special is that they are coming from women who have been there — going through what they are going through,” Purdy explained.
Saturday’s race at Portage Lakes State Park, 5031 Manchester Road, New Franklin, will feature boats leased from a company in Tennessee. It’s quite a spectacular scene watching boats with large dragon heads and tails race across the lake.
For race purposes, the teams are divided into three categories, including a community group for folks like neighbors or local organizations or businesses.
Corporate help
The survivor group will include five teams, four made up of breast cancer survivors. And the corporate teams include friends from larger companies such as Akron General Medical Center and FirstEnergy Corp.
During the past few weeks, each team was given a chance to practice in a dragon boat. The night I visited, folks from FirstEnergy were there.
“It’s our first and only practice,” joked Bryan Baer of Green. “This is for a great cause … and an outlet [for survivors] to be part of something other than cancer.”
It’s also a terrific opportunity for companies that are interested in employee team-building. That’s another reason why FirstEnergy got involved.
During practice, a team generally paddles for a couple of minutes and then rests. But the Dragon Dream Team also works on endurance, paddling for 10 minutes without a break. That’s a stinkin’ long time.
Thinking he must have heard wrong, FirstEnergy’s Dave Griffing of North Canton double-checked.
“Ten minutes?” he asked, chuckling. “If we have to go that long, they better bring a stretcher out.”
For more information about joining the team of survivors or attending the festival, which is free to spectators, visit www.dragondreamteam.org.
Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com. Find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kim.honemcmahan.