Westwood Lake: Two Days, Two Medals, One Hell of a Weekend
Nanaimo’s newest dragon boat regatta made a splash this weekend, and so did we.
Hosted by VI Paddling at the picturesque Westwood Lake, the first-ever Westwood Lake Dragon Boat Regatta took place July 19–20, and it set the bar high. With blue skies, (mostly) calm water and thirty-one teams from across the region, racing on Saturday, Sunday or both, it was a full-on festival of paddles and power.
For Sync or Swim, this was a weekend of firsts:
Our first two-day festival
Our debut in 500m races
And spoiler alert: our first gold medal in a 500m race
Let’s rewind and take it from the top…
Saturday: Short & Spicy
Saturday’s focus was all about that quick burst energy—16 women’s standard boat teams lined up for the 200m sprints, and it was good! We came out strong:
Race 1: 1:20:718 — Heat winner
Race 2: 1:21:054 — Heat winner again
Final (Valhalla Pure Women 200m): 1:22:338 — Silver medal! Just a whisper behind PANDA’s 1:21:921.
But medals aside, Saturday was also a reminder of what makes dragon boating more than just a sport. The carnation ceremony and paddle arch to honour the four breast cancer survivor teams (including our own coach Lesley) was powerful, heartfelt and grounding. Always an emotional, goosebumps moment as we see before us how many lives breast cancer impacts.
Sunday: Long Game, Strong Game
Sunday introduced the big one: 500 metres of paddle power. 10 women’s standard boat teams, and one Sync or Swim crew who came to give it a go:
Race 1: 2:37:093 — Heat win, baby
Race 2: 2:37:892 — Another win (if nothing else, we’re consistent)
Final (Misko DJ Women 500m): 2:40:213 — Gold medal finish! Barely edging out PANDA (2:40:497) in what can only be described as a photo-finish-level showdown. We’ll be talking about that one for a while.
Westwood Lake, you’ve officially won us over. From the lake views and sandy beach to the tight races and the camaraderie on shore, this was easily one of the most fun races we've done to date. Hats off to VI Paddling for pulling off such a well-run event—we’ll be back next year.
A big shout out to some of the Sea Dragons, who also joined the festival fun and paddled alongside Angels Abreast for both days. Always love seeing familiar faces on the water.
