Georgia Breast Cancer Survivors Find Community In Dragon Boat Racing

“We paddle and we go forward as breast cancer survivors,” Evans said. “We don’t row backward; we don’t look backward. We go forward.”

Every week, she and a group of about 29 other breast cancer survivors and supporters go to Lake Lanier to practice a centuries-old Hong Kong sport that has become popular in many cities around the world.

Dragon Boat Atlanta is a Georgia-based team of breast cancer survivors and supporters of various ages, including some women and a few men. Their mission is to spread awareness of breast cancer and show that there is life after the disease, according to dragonboatatlanta.org, and they say exercise plays an important role in a survivor’s quality of life.

“Being with this group of women and men has kept me, my attitude and everything much younger than some of my friends that are some of the same age that I am,” Evans said.

Evans said she is one of the oldest members on the team and has survived breast cancer twice. After surviving her first bout in 1999, she began looking for ways to stay active.

She had participated in two-day and three-day breast cancer walks, but her oldest daughter suggested that she join Dragon Boat Atlanta, which was a brand new organization at that time. In 2004, Evans joined the team and has served as its president for the past four years.

“Being on the water in that boat is the most relaxing, soothing thing,” she said. “It’s a relaxer; it’s a de-stressor, and you forget about your worries. Sometimes I just feel like I’m in the boat by myself, and then other times I realize we’re working as a team.”

Evans was diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2011.

“I kept saying to the doctor, ‘When can I get back on the water?’ I had already been through breast cancer one time, and I realized that living my life was more important than how long of a life I had. That was one my main goals was to get back on the water,” she said.

“Some weeks, we don’t even talk about cancer, but we know that each one of us is there to support each other and whatever is going on in our lives,” Evans said.

Dragon Boat Festivals 

Dragon Boat racing is an up-and-coming sport in the United States, and Atlanta is not the only city in the United States with a team.

“You’ll probably find (a festival) going on every weekend in some city in the United States,” Evans said. “A lot of communities have decided to have dragon boat festivals as fundraisers for their charities rather than having a golf tournament or 5K run.”

A festival will held in Atlanta Sept. 8, 2018.

In the past, Evan’s team traveled to places like Tennessee and South Carolina to participate in festivals.

“(In Tennessee) we were racing against all these young firemen and policemen and college students,” she said. “We realized from then on, we were going to be in competition with people that were in a different place in their lives.”

However, Evans said some festivals are less competitive than others.

“We will travel to those festivals, and we will participate in them to let people see that as breast cancer survivors, we are thriving and we are able to compete, and we are able to participate in this particular sport,” she said.

Her team is looking forward to competing in Italy next year at the International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission festival, which hosts competitions every four years. According to the festival’s website, 120 teams from around the world will participate in this event.

The Boat 

Dragon Boat racing is different than canoeing or other types of boating.

First of all, paddlers face forward, not backward — which is symbolic for a breast cancer survivor.

According to Dragon Boat Atlanta, Dragon Boats can have 10 to 20 seats. Paddlers in the front (called the strokes) set the pace for the team, and a drummer at the front follows their rhythm. A person in the back is responsible for steering the boat. The middle of the boat, where Evans sits, is called the “engine room.”

“We grab the water (with our paddles), and we pull it back and give it to the person behind us,” Evans said. “That’s the concept. That and being in rhythm and harmony with each other. That is what gets us across the water.”

Evans said that her team has never tipped a boat.

“We’ve always been able to stay in the water straight and do what we need to do,” she said.

The Teamwork

Teamwork and harmony is vital for success in this sport.

“You have to be together,” Evans said. “You have to be in harmony, or it just will not go.”

Dragon Boat Atlanta has welcomed breast cancer survivors and supporters of many ages. It’s a unique group of people who share a common struggle.

“We know that each one of us is there to support each other and whatever is going on in our lives,” Evans said. “We have a different story to tell, and this team has just been so supportive of me and my family and the things that are going on in my life.”

“The team is the greatest thing in the world,” she added.