Paddlers bring home boatload of memories – and medals – from international dragon boat races

Three dragon boat clubs from the University of Toronto recently competed in an international competition in Taiwan, collectively paddling away with 30 medals – and memories that will last a lifetime. 

Sisters Elizabeth and Katherine Elder – members of Iron Dragons club, made up mostly of undergraduates in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – described the experience as surreal compared to their regular diet of competitive races. 

“I think the collective agreement amongst the team was that it was probably the most beautiful place we've ever paddled,” says Katherine, who graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in engineering science.

“The lake is surrounded by beautiful green mountains.” 

Similarly, Hannah Seow, a member of a team comprising students from New College and University College, says racing alongside teams from the United States, Norway and Australia prompted the team to view the sport through a new lens. 

“It really put things into perspective for a lot of us,” says Seow, an international student from Trinidad and Tobago who is in her fourth year of studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “We felt like Olympians out there.” 

The International Dragon Boat Federation's 2026 Club Crew World Championship (CCWC) in Hualien County, Taiwan, took place Aug. 29 to Sept. 6, drawing roughly 5,500 athletes from 21 countries to race 200-metre, 500-metre and 2,000-metre events in gendered and mixed boats.

All three U of T teams made a splash. The Iron Dragons had a podium finish in every race they entered – winning two gold and four silver medals. Meanwhile, the New Dragons x University College (NDUC) club brought home seven gold, four silver and five bronze medals. Liquid Assets, a club linked to Rotman Commerce, rounded out U of T’s international showing with three gold, four silver and one bronze. 

Liquid Assets’ medals came after a rocky start to the season, including a qualifying competition that was cancelled due to the Ontario wildfires in July. 

“We didn’t have anything to gauge where we were at,” says Grace Gan, a fourth-year Rotman Commerce student specializing in finance and economics who joined the team with no previous experience.  

Gan’s club was rewarded with a gold medal on the first day of racing, followed by back-to-back wins in the women’s and men’s divisions near the end of the competition. “It’s amazing to win with this club,” says Gan, who also marvelled at the picturesque course on Liyu Lake. 

“The whole point of dragon boating is that you have to be aligned. It’s not an individual sport. If you lose focus for a second, you might cost the team. It’s an insane level of focus, concentration and dedication.” 

Seow, too, emphasized the importance of staying focused. The NDUC team squeaked out a win in a mixed 200-metre race by just 0.04 seconds following a rain delay that nearly cancelled the race. It would prove to be a turning point, giving the team a morale boost that carried them through the gruelling 2,000-metre races later in the week. 

“I think we cried tears of joy,” says Seow, who describes the team as a family – one that helped her find her community at the university. “It felt like every single stroke we took mattered. We felt like we earned it.”

Despite being rival clubs at the university, the three teams said they appreciated seeing familiar faces on the podium – like running into old friends, according to Gan. “Even if we’re on different teams, we’re all passionate about the same thing,” she says.

The Elder sisters had a particularly poignant take: “We say that we’re powering the boat with the power of friendship.”