Dragon Boat athletes to explore Sarasota-Manatee, other parts of Florida after international racing event

Nikolay Valchinkovski cannot wait to party.

Last week, Valchinkovski and his dragon boating teammates took a long, 15 1/2-hour direct flight from Dubai to Miami for the International Dragon Boat Federation's Club Crew World Championships at Sarasota-Bradenton's Nathan Benderson Park near the Sarasota-Manatee County line.

The week since has been filled with racing and photographing others out on the water. But the minute their final race is over, Valchinkovski said, it will be time to let loose.

About half of the 24 athletes that came from Dubai will have to fly back right after the games, but the other half will be living it up in Miami, partying, drinking, clubbing and going to the beach.

"The more party, the better," Valchinkovski said, adding that he still hasn't tried a classic American hamburger.

The International Dragon Boat Federation's Club Crew World Championships has brought about 3,000 athletes on more than 60 teams from around the world to Nathan Benderson Park, officials said. The competition started Monday, July 18 and runs through Sunday, July 24.

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Tourism officials said they expect athletes who have come here for the international dragon boat racing event to spend time in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and beyond, generating a significant economic impact. Some visitors said they're planning to travel in Sarasota and Manatee counties and elsewhere in Florida after the major international competition, but others who have already taken time off from work just for the event said they're going to have to head back home.

"Some of us are staying one to two extra days, but a lot of us have to take work off to be here," Adie Siggery, a member of the United Kingdom-based Secklow Hundred Dragon Boat Club, said. "Jet lag and the time zone difference are also factors."

Expanded racing

This week marks the first time that the Club Crew World Championships have been held in the U.S., Stephen V. Rodriguez, interim CEO and chief operating officer of the Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy, said. The Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that manages and promotes the park, with the help of money from local tourism taxes.

The event also marks the first time the international competition will feature para divisions, Rodriguez said.

"We have three para teams that are out there, so we are making history in the international dragon boat competition being the first site to have para competition," he said.

Rodriguez said he estimates about 40% of race participants are experiencing Nathan Benderson Park for the first time. That's good for tourism, because 74% of first-time sports related visitors to the Bradenton area return for a leisure vacation within 12 months, said Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We have almost 3,000 athletes and supporters for 10 days of practice and competition, plus whatever time they stay for vacationing, so it's a great economic impact on our community in the month of July," Rodriguez said.

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The sport of dragon boat racing traces its roots back about 2,000 years to ancient China. Dragon boat racing as it's known today started to form in the 1970s in Hong Kong, with the first Hong Kong International Races taking place in 1976.

The International Dragon Boat Federation was founded in 1991, and today the sport boasts about 50 million participants in China, more than 300,000 in the United Kingdom and Europe, 90,000 in the U.S. and Canada and thousands in Australia and New Zealand. The sport is also spreading through the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific Basin, according to the Federation.

Dragon boats are about 40 feet long and outfitted with a dragon head and tail, per Chinese tradition. A Chinese style drum with a seat for a drummer is situated in the bow, and the drumbeats regulate the speed of paddling.

From local to international

When Nathan Benderson Park initially secured the Club Crew World Championships in 2019, it was estimated that 6,000 athletes would participate. But COVID-19 basically cut that number in half, Rodriguez said, and worldwide economic conditions are also a factor.

"It starts with qualifying, so many crews throughout the nation were not on the water during COVID," he said. "Between a lot of (countries) not having national competitions, and a lot of financial and travel obstacles -- we're really in global inflation right now -- the numbers were impacted."

There is a club from Ukraine participating in the races, Rodriguez said, and they were greeted with thunderous applause and support from other contestants at the opening ceremonies. Russian and Belarusian teams, however, have been barred from participating.

Peter Jarosi, the president of the Hungarian Dragon Boat Federation, was on-site for the races this week. Hungary had about 55 people in Sarasota-Bradenton for the races, including about 50 athletes, he said.

Hungarian teams were able to train throughout the pandemic, with restrictions, he said, but things are so busy now that Jarosi said he at least will not be exploring the area afterwards.

Brad Bridger, who coaches with the Toronto-based CSDC Liquid Assets, said he arrived at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport July 16 after an 11 hour trip with a layover in Atlanta. He won't be able to hang around afterwards because of a previously planned vacation in Newfoundland, but he did say he's been enjoying the area and the boating venue.

"Everyone down here has been friendly and the amenities have been fantastic," he said. "We liked the [Siesta Key] drum circle."

There are also plenty of teams from all around the U.S. participating in the races. One of them is the Out of Sight Dragons, a dragon boat racing team for the blind and visually-impaired based in Washington, D.C.

Last year, at the 2021 Club Crew National Championships also held at Benderson Park, the Out of Sight Dragons won gold in the 2000 meter race, secretary Brindisi Chan said. While the team's drummer and steerer need to have full sight, paddling doesn't require being able to see -- all that matters is that they're strong enough and that they can hear the drum beat.

Growing sport

"I'm a believer in if you lose one sense it heightens others," Anne Becker, the team's coach, said. "We're extremely proud to be part of this very important moment in history of parasports. We hope we can raise awareness and cause athletes with impairments to follow and join in."

Sarasota-Bradenton has its own vibrant -- and growing -- community of dragon boat racers, Rodriguez said. Nathan Benderson Park is home base for the NBP Survivors in Sync, a crew of breast cancer survivors, the NBP Dragons for either competitive or recreational racing and cancer survivors NBP Warriors.

Rodriguez said he thinks having the event in Sarasota-Bradenton -- and in the U.S. for the first time -- will generate even more interest in dragon boat racing. The U.S. Dragon Boat Federation has already committed to holding t its Club Crew National Championships at Benderson Park in 2023, 2025 and 2027, he said.

"It would be safe to say we've probably tripled in size since I've been here at the park with dragon boating, and a lot of that growth has happened over this last one and a half to two years," Rodriguez said. "We have a longer-term vision of adding more divisions, adding youth divisions and para divisions and so forth down the road."

A division specifically for military veterans is particularly popular right now, he said.

With shorter travel times to get home, some visitors from the U.S. said they're taking the time to visit the local attractions. Bridget Durkin, a member of the Chicago Blades with the Greater Chicago Dragon Boat Club, said her sister convinced her to go to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art earlier in the week. She was initially hesitant, but once she got there, Durkin said she was completely blown away.

Durkin said she planned to wake up Friday morning and hit a boat tour from Siesta Key Marina called "Dolphins and Donuts," where she could sip coffee and look out for marine life.

After all, there are no dolphins in Chicago, and some of her teammates said they saw manatees.

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Dragon boat athletes to experience Florida, others here just for race