Rumeln-Kaldenhausen.
After the corona break, hundreds of visitors are expected at the 17th Dragon Boat Festival on May 6, 2023. All information about the spectacle on the Toeppersee.
Andreas Denner and Udo Schepers currently have their hands full. It’s finally starting again and “Sie Long”, “Lei Gong” and Ri Gong” can show what they’re made of after the tiresome corona break. The 1st and 2nd chairmen of the Homberg Canoe Club Gerdt don’t have to feed their three river dragons, but care is important. “The dragon boats are made of fiberglass and are actually quite easy to care for, but cleaning is a must,” explains Andreas Denner and tenderly places “Sie Gong”‘s hand on the freshly polished, bright yellow croissant.
Subscribe to the Duisburg newsletter for free + pages for Duisburg: blue light article + MSV + districts: north I south I west + topic pages: housing & real estate I gastronomy I zoo)
Andreas Denner and his deputy Schepers are of course also enthusiastic dragon boat paddlers, in addition to many other water sports activities. At the big dragon boat festival on Saturday, May 6th, however, they are only allowed to watch. The club is the organizer and has to take care of the entire organization. “We’ll start planning in November. Both the race management, the procedure and the parking lot attendant must be organized and instructed. Incidentally, the latter is already 82 years old, but still part of the 40-strong team.
The dragon boat races at Toeppersee always attract many visitors. What became a national sport in China around 580 AD only really established itself in Western Europe 20 years ago. “At peak times we had 48 teams at the start of the dragon boat races, that’s a good 600 active athletes alone,” Schepers remembers. At least 27 teams have registered for the race on May 6th. Of course, that’s a lot less, but after Corona, operations first have to start up again. It’s not just the canoe club that’s experiencing this at the moment, many other clubs are also wondering where all the people who were otherwise always there are suddenly stuck.
Together to the beat of the drummer at the Dragon Boat Festival on Lake Toepper
However, that doesn’t detract from the fun with the ten and twelve meter long boats. Dragon boating is a fun sport for amateurs that almost anyone can practice. The distance that is now being paddled on the Toepper is 250 meters long and Denner is certain that even untrained amateurs can easily cover the distance in a minute and twenty. “Dragon boating is not necessarily about strength, but rather about concentration and synchronicity,” reveals the professional. It’s about acting together to the beat of the drummer and, fascinatingly, children can sometimes do that better than a team of ten well-trained rowers.
Accordingly, at the end it is not the strength that goes away first, but the concentration. But that doesn’t matter in the hobby races, because river kite riding is really fun and promotes community. The teams are often made up of work colleagues who learn to appreciate each other much more through this informal way of team building. “Of course, we are not only happy about complete teams who want to take part in the race next year, but also about interested individual athletes,” emphasizes Schepers.
>>> INFORMATION ABOUT SPORTING FUN IN THE DRAGON BOAT:
- Trial training is every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the canoe club, Dammstraße 3, in 47198 Homberg. If you would like to take part in the dragon boat race with a team in 2024, simply contact the club and they will give you the necessary instructions. For the small boats, that’s twelve people, the big ones hold 20 people.
- Months of training is not necessary, the teams usually meet two or three times before the race to get to know the sports equipment and then it’s off to the track. The drummer and helmsman are provided by the club, so the crew only has to concentrate on paddling together and not against each other. And of course not to fall over.
- How well this can work will be shown on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the 17th Dragon Boat Festival on the banks of the water ski facility at Toeppersee, Lohfelder Weg 91, in Duisburg-Rumeln-Kaldenhausen. From there you can follow the races well. It starts at 10 a.m. and the finals are scheduled for 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. After that, the river dragons have a break again. More information on the homepage of the Canoe Club Homberg Gerdt: www.kchg.de.
More articles from this category can be found here: West
