Oak Ridge Today

Photos, results: Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival

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2015 Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival Entrance

Photo by D. Ray Smith

 

The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival on Friday and Saturday included dragon boat races, music, vendors, food trucks, a youth area for kids, Drummers’ Parade, and Lanterns on the Lake ceremony. Here are pictures by D. Ray Smith and Rob Welton.

The Dragon Boat Festival raises money for local charities. As many as 32 dragon boat teams had registered this year. Each team has 20 paddlers and a drummer to ensure that the paddlers are propelling the boat in synchrony.

This year, the festival started on Friday evening with the Dragon Boat Beer Garden Bash at Melton Lake Park followed by a full day of boat racing on Saturday.

The festival is organized and sponsored by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson and Fire Chief Darryl Kerley estimated that the new event on Friday had about 1,500 participants, and there were approximately 4,000 who attended throughout the day on Saturday.

The winners this year were:

  • Gold—Parkway Cardiology-Paddle Attack, from the Health and Wellness Division, with a time of 01:07.301;
  • Silver—Charlotte Dragon Boat Association-Charlotte Fury (the defending champions), from the Crazy about Dragon Boats Division, with a time of 01:08.278; and
  • Bronze—Glenwood Elementary School-Glenwood Gliders, from the Education Division, with a time of 01:08.759.

See the results of this year’s races here: 2015 Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Race Results. [Read more…]

Dragon Boat Festival includes races, music, beer garden, kids area

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Four Dragon Boats

Dragon boats are pictured above at the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival at Melton Lake Park on May 31, 2014. (Submitted photo) 

 

The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival this weekend will include dragon boat races, music, vendors, a youth area for kids, and a beer garden.

The Oak Ridge Marina boat ramp will be closed on Friday, May 29, and Saturday, May 30, for the festival, organizers said. They expect increased traffic congestion on Melton Lake Drive this weekend. Organizers are encouraging those who attend to park at Roane State Community College on Briarcliff Avenue and catch a ride in a bus or van to the waterfront.

Thirty or or more teams of 20 paddlers each are expected in Oak Ridge for the 2015 Dragon Boat Festival.

The festival, which will raise money for local charities, will start on Friday evening, May 29, with a “Lanterns on the Lake” ceremony, music, beer garden, and other festivities. [Read more…]

It’s not too late to sign up a dragon boat team

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Penny Behling Dragon Boat Steering

Penny Behling, CEO of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing, steers a dragon boat during a race at last year’s inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

It’s not too late to register a team for the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival. You don’t have to worry about getting a boat, paddles, or life vests. Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing LLC will supply those for you, plus training, a practice session for your team and a skilled person to steer the boat, a press release said.

All you need to do is recruit 21 people who are 15 years or older; you need 20 paddlers, eight of whom are women, and one drummer. The cost for a team is $850, or slightly less than $41 per person. The money raised goes to a variety of charities.

To register a team, sponsor a team, or sponsor the festival, visit Dynamic’s website at http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/,and click on REGISTER, as well as the festival’s Facebook page for the latest news. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge dragon boat festival expected to grow

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Mark Watson and Penny Behling at Dragon Boat Festival

Penny Behling, CEO of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing, makes an announcement before the races begin at the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival last May. Looking on is City Manager Mark Watson, then president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, which initiated the festival. (Submitted photo)

 

Submitted

Penny Behling wants you to have fun on Saturday, May 30, at the Oak Ridge waterfront, and help raise funds to support the good works of the people of Oak Ridge.

She wants you to be safe as a member of a dragon boat team, and she is sure that you will meet new people, make new friends, build self-confidence, and contribute to your team and the community’s well-being.

Behling is the chief executive officer and owner (with her husband Chris) of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing LLC of Knoxville. She will be the race director of the second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, which is again being launched by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

Dynamic was the race director of last year’s inaugural festival, which attracted an estimated 5,000 people and a media team that broadcast the Oak Ridge races to a television network in Beijing, China, which has an audience of a billion people. [Read more…]

Second Dragon Boat Festival scheduled for May 30

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Four Dragon Boats

Dragon boats at the first Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival on May 31, 2014, at Melton Lake Park. (Submitted photo)

 

The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held Saturday, May 30, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park. The annual festival was launched a year ago by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

This year, the festival will be preceded by an evening social event and beer garden on Friday, May 29, at the park. For the dragon boat paddlers and other visitors from out of town, the host hotel is Comfort Inn of Oak Ridge.

The festival’s organizing committee is headed by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. Chairs and members of the steering committee and subcommittees are members of this club, the Breakfast Club, and the Sunset Club. [Read more…]

Letter: Three Rotary clubs launch successful Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival

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Dragon Boats Close Race

 

To the Editor:

What happens when three Rotary clubs in an East Tennessee city work together? In Oak Ridge, a three-club collaboration over the past year culminated in a highly successful inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Race Festival. The exciting event was launched on Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina off Melton Lake Drive—one of the three best rowing venues in the United States.

The leadership of the event started with Mark Watson, Oak Ridge city manager and president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. He met frequently with the presidents of the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs, and they persuaded their club members to serve on the organizing committee and as volunteers at the festival. Key Rotarians who made the event successful were Leslie England, Keith Kahl, Jim Sumner, and Oak Ridge City Councilman Chuck Hope (who was in charge of logistics and served as a liaison between the Rotary clubs and the city of Oak Ridge).

By the third week in May, 30 teams, including one from Chattanooga and three from Kentucky and North Carolina, had registered. Three teams came from the Oak Ridge School System and three from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). [Read more…]

Thirty dragon boat teams ready to race May 31

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Penny Behling Dragon Boat Steerer

Penny Behling of Dynamic Dragon Boat Races LLC of Knoxville takes over as steerer of this dragon boat during a race in Owenboro, Ky., and gets the team back on course. (Submitted photo)

 

The inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.

The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge are launching this fundraiser for community nonprofit service organizations.

Dragon boat racing is the eighth-fastest growing sport in the world. And the races will take place on Oak Ridge’s signature rowing venue, considered one of the three best courses for regattas in the nation.

Starting at 9 a.m., 30 dragon boat teams—three from Kentucky and North Carolina—will race at least twice, with the 12 winners of two rounds racing in the third round.

The festival offers food and beverage vendors, beer garden, kids area at the pavilion with bounce houses and 15-minute martial arts lessons on the hour, two Tai Chi demonstrations, and awards ceremonies for winners of the morning Drummers Parade and the third round of dragon boat races. [Read more…]

Twenty dragon boat teams ready to race May 31

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Dragon Boat Races

Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. Originally the summer event was a time to ward off bad spirits but now it is a celebration of the life of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet who opposed the corruption of the imperial court. More than 200 teams from Taiwan and abroad will compete in the three-day race. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK LIN (Photo credit should read PATRICK LIN/ AFP/ Getty Images)

 

Commit to a competitive sport and community support. 

That could be the motto of the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, a fundraiser for community nonprofit service organizations that will be launched by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

Already at least 20 boat teams are being organized, with more expected to register soon at http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/.

At least 15 companies and organizations have paid or pledged a total of more than $25,000.

The Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge’s Rotary clubs to host dragon boat races May 31

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Penny Behling Dragon Boat Steerer

The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge are combining forces to launch the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, to be held Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.

“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment and raise funds for nonprofit service organizations in the community,” said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.

The boat-racing event will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs.

A dragon boat is a long, low boat adorned with a snarling dragonhead at the boat’s front end, as in the Chinese tradition. Dragon boat races have become popular events in many U.S. cities, ranging in size from Philadelphia to Knoxville.

This all-day Dragon Boat Festival race will be an entertaining competition among teams of 20 persons each—18 paddlers, a caller, and a steerer. The teams will come from community employers and organizations, some of which are signing up to become corporate sponsors of the event. [Read more…]

Organizers announce new date for Dragon Boat Festival in May

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Colorado Dragon Boat Race

The first team to pull out the flag at the end of a dragon boat race in Colorado wins the 150-meter competition. (Jeff Towery, provided by Colorado Dragon Boat Festival)

The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge, which are planning to launch the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival this spring, have announced a change of date for the community fundraiser. The festival will be held Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.

In addition, the clubs have announced a new website for the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival: http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/.

“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,” said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.

The boat-racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]

Rotary clubs plan dragon boat races at Oak Ridge Marina in May

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Dragon Boat Festival

Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. (Photo credit Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

Three local Rotary clubs are launching the city’s first Dragon Boat Festival on May 17 at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.

“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,” said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.

The boat racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]