The Central Coast SurviveOars won three gold medals in Italy at the Club Crew World Championships. Photo by Brooke Langle
The Central Coast SurviveOars won three gold medals at the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) Club Crew World Championships in Ravenna, Italy, September 3-8. The racing crew of 23 cancer survivors won the 2,000-meter, 500 meter and 200 meter races in the All Cancer Paddler division.
The IDBF Club Crew World Championships are held every two years. This year, there were 7,000 athletes competing from 50 different nations.
“It was intense,” said paddler Shannon Larrabee. “We just locked in and focused and that helped us to be successful.”
The winning crew of 23 dragon boat paddlers consists of both men and women, who have survived breast cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, and other types of cancer.
Los Osos paddler Robin O’Connor was undergoing cancer treatment while preparing for the competition; she passed away just a few weeks before. Her fighting spirit motivated the team in Italy. The team created Robin O’Connor stickers and distributed them everywhere they went.
The team qualified to compete at the world championships by winning at the United States Dragon Boat Federation (USDBF) Club Crew National Championships in Florida in 2023. The crew worked hard to prepare in the months leading up to the competition, with extra dragon boat practices and off-boat training. The team also raised almost $20,000 in donations from community sponsors.
Central Coast SurviveOars is a team of 150 dragon boat paddlers, both cancer survivors and supporters, and is the founding team of the nonprofit organization Central Coast Dragon Boat Association (CCDBA). This is the second time since 2007 that a SurviveOars crew has qualified for the Club Crew World Championships.
For more information about dragon boating on the Central Coast, visit CCDBA.org.
