"We couldn't have asked for better conditions, from a sprint racing point of view", said Don Mulhall, Race Director for the 10th annual event. "Maybe people would have liked a bit more sun, but there was no rain and no wind during the event.  The wind and rain showed up saturday night after the racing was wrapped up."  The event is the fastest growing Dragon Boat Festival in the Province, and appears to be the largest Dragon Boat Festival in the Okanagan this year!

At the center of all the on-land action, Crew Marshall Heather Brehm heard nothing but praise for the event, the Skaha Lake park venue and the volunteers,  "Everyone had a great time, and they all say they will be back next year". Brehm and her crew of volunteers spent long stretches of time in the lake, helping load and unload teams from the 14 meter long racing canoes.

Top local teams included Survivorship placing second in the Breast Cancer Survivor A Final, with a time of 2:35.64; Paddlemonium was the top local women's team, coming 3rd in the Platinum B final with a time of 2:26.81; and O'Kai I'Kicka U'as, last year's winner, coming 4th in the Platinum A Mixed final with a time of 2:12.33. "We had lots of competition all through all the divisions, with some finals being decided by hundredths of a second. All of our local teams did well, with lots of medals and ribbons handed out", said Mulhall.

The top Womens Division Champions was the Fire on Water team from Kelowna in a time of 2:21.81, and the top Mixed Division Champions was the team CDBC Crew Yahoo from Calgary. Full results are posted on the website at www.pentictondragonboat.com.

The 2011 Raymond James Penticton Dragon Boat Festival is scheduled for September 9 to 11, 2011 � Mark your calendars!

The Raymond James Penticton Dragon Boat Festival is produced by Go Rowing and Paddling Association of Canada and the Penticton Paddling Centre. For more information, visit the Festival website at www.pentictondragonboat.com.

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