Survivors Abreast Peterborough Dragon Boat Team Celebrates 25 Years

Sent by Michelle Thorton

Survivors Abreast Peterborough, celebrates its 25-year anniversary this month. The Dragon Boat Team, made up of breast cancer survivors from the Peterborough area, was founded by Meredith Cosburn, who was encouraged by a friend (a member of the Toronto-based Dragons Abreast team) to do what she had done to help with her own breast cancer recovery – join a dragon boat team.

Photo courtesy of Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival.

Breast cancer survivor dragon boat paddling began at the University of British Columbia in 1996. Dr. Don McKenzie a professor in the department of sports medicine and an exercise physiologist, challenged the prevailing medical thinking that woman treated for breast cancer should avoid rigorous upper body exercise for fear of developing lymphoedema, a debilitating and chronic side-effect of treatment. Dr. McKenzie developed a program to determine the impact of exercise on breast cancer survivors, choosing dragon boat paddling as the epitome of strenuous, repetitive upper body exercise. He trained twenty-four breast cancer volunteers in a gym for three months, introduced them to dragon boats and taught them paddling techniques. At the end of the three-month season on the water none of the volunteers had lymphoedema. Not only that, survivors found they were fitter, healthier and happier. They loved the camaraderie and support of their fellow paddlers. They realized dragon boat paddling could become a means of raising breast cancer awareness and show that survivors could lead normal lives. They called themselves “Abreast in a Boat”.

And so, with the help of a newspaper article calling on other breast cancer survivors, Survivors Abreast held it’s very first meeting on Nov. 18, 1999.

By January 2000, the “Peterborough and District Breast Cancer Survivors Dragon Boat Team” was 27 members strong and they were excited to learn how to paddle.

The Team soon adopted the name Survivors Abreast Peterborough.

The team still needed a boat and Dr. John Rowsom, then chief of surgery at PRHC, was instrumental in helping them overcome this hurdle. He and three other doctors, Dr. R. Chenoweth, Dr. J. Scott and the late Dr. R. Jaroszonek, each donated $1,000 for a down payment towards a dragon boat.

A story about the team published in the Peterborough Examiner sparked enough interest for Liberty Mutual to provide the rest of the money needed to pay for a dragon boat built by Glenn Fallis of Voyageur Canoe.

The Holiday Inn then donated wharf space and the Chamber of Commerce offered free parking. Lawyer Bill Lockington volunteered free legal counsel to incorporate the team which eventually gained charitable status.

April 30, 2000 was the first time the team actually got in the boat. The community was on board right away and a special dedication was held with a traditional eye-dotting ceremony. Getting the team on the water was truly a community effort. Survivors Abreast Peterborough Dragon Boat Team celebrates 25 years as a team! The following year the team announced that dragon boat races would take place on Little Lake as part of the third annual Great Kawartha Canoe-A-Thon. The event was called Liberty Mutual’s Day on the Water and was in support of various charities. Survivors Abreast donated $25,000 to the PRHC Breast Assessment Centre.

In 2002 Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival took on a life of its own and hosted its very first official Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival. $84,509.18 was donated to the PRHC Foundation in support of the Breast Assessment Centre. The event has since grown to be one of our communities’ most anticipated events to kick off the summer.

By 2007 the festival had raised over $1 million and the team was awarded a Civic award for community betterment. The new breast assessment centre at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre was completed in 2008 and was named the “Survivors Abreast Breast Assessment Centre”. The team also received a Peterborough This Week Philanthropy Award that year.

In 2005, Survivors Abreast travelled to Vancouver in celebration of the Abreast in a Boat team’s 10 year anniversary and to commemorate Dr Don Mackenzie who founded the breast cancer paddling movement. This festival proved to be the very first international dragon boat festival for breast cancer paddlers. A second one was held in Australia 2 years later. These led to the formation of the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission (IBCPC), a commission of the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF). A formal bidding process was introduced for the 2010 international festival, and Peterborough was chosen over 2 teams from England, 1 from Italy and 1 from New Zealand. 66 teams came from all over Canada, the US, Australia, England, Italy and South Africa. Survivors Abreast was awarded three Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence awards that year. One for tourism, Health and Wellness and Marketing, and one for Promotions. The International Festival has been held every 4 years since 2010. Survivors Abreast travelled to Sarasota, Florida in 2014, Florence, Italy in 2018, Waikato, New Zealand in 2023 and will be attending the IBCPC festival in France in 2026 to represent the Peterborough region.

In keeping with the team’s mission to improve fitness and develop the paddling skills required for dragon boating while raising awareness and fundraising for breast cancer care in our community, Survivors Abreast Peterborough takes pride in hosting the annual Peterborough’s Dragon boat Festival.

To date, the Festival has raised more than $4.5 million for breast and other cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment through the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation.

Next year’s event will take place on June 14, 2025. Survivors Abreast has grown over the years and the Festival has evolved. The team has represented Peterborough and the surrounding area at regattas and other events near and far…rain or shine. They continue to raise awareness and give back to the community because it’s always been about Hope, Passion, Dedication, Community, Fun and Making a Difference, One Race at a Time.

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