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2008 SOUTH FLORIDA DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL IN MIAMI |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The fifth annual South Florida Dragon Boat Festival [Miami, Florida – November 13, 2007] On October 13-14, 2007, under a nice breeze, the 5th annual South Florida Dragon Boat Festival was a success at Haulover Park, Miami Beach. The two-day race brought 32 local and national teams to compete for the South Florida Open Championship to Haulover Beach Park Marina, where 45-foot boats painted to resemble dragons glided speedily across the water. Each team included 20 paddlers, a drummer to keep the tempo and a steersperson who navigated the waterway with a 12-foot oar. The tradition of Chinese dragon boat festival origin dates back over 2,000 years to South China as an important factor to commemorate a great patriot, poet and statesman, Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), during the Warring States Period (475 - 221 BC). It also honors the dragon, an important ancient symbol in Chinese culture. Out-of-town teams were California AeroDragons, New York Red Dragons, Tampa Bay JP Morgan Chase’s Chase Dragons and TB Dragon Boat Club. First-time participants were Florida Key's Team Godzilla, Miami’s first breast cancer survivor team Save Our Sister - SOS, and State Farm’s Cobra Kai and Panda Express. Local teams were the host team UCAF Golden Dragons, 2003-5 Championship Ocean Rescue Dragons, veteran Puff Dragon Boat Racing Team, Southern Wine & Spirits of America’s Absolut Dragons, Miami Red Dragons, Plantation MotoDragons, John Wai Kung Fu Academy’s Dueling Dragons, Fort Lauderdale King of Fans’ KOFI, Lauderhill’s Blazing Paddles and Coral Springs CSCCA Dream Dragons. Academic teams included University of Miami’s House of Rowing Dragons, Killian High Team Mushu, and Coral Gables Asian Cavalier. ''With the support of race officials from Montreal, Boston, New York and California, we were able to establish a very professional system, so that while the races were competing on the water, other cultural events were taking place on land,'' Johnny Chiang, the Chief Race Technical Advisor. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman, Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department Director Jack Kardys, Miami-Dade County Marina Manager Kathy Haley, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Miami Director General Owen Hsieh, OCAC Commissioners CW Tsui and Afonso Wong, On-Leong Chinese Merchant Association president Estella Tam, World Kwong Tung Community Association president Jesus Lam, NANAY president Dr. Joy Bruce, and other local community leaders participated at the Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Saturday. “This year, the race was more professional because of the new floating dock at the Start Line,” said Winnie Tang, President of United Chinese Association of Florida, the event sponsor. “Compared to the past, not only did we have more teams, we also had a more enriched Asian cultural performance program, including Chinese Kung Fu demonstrations, Chinese Lion Dance, Hawaii Polynesian dance, and Japanese Taiko drum. This has become a multicultural festival.” “In supporting the October National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we warmly welcome the first Miami breast cancer survivor team Save Our Sisters (SOS),” Tang stated. “We also have the Miami-Dade County Health Department’s Women Health giving information on breast cancer prevention and healthy lifestyle maintenance.” “It’s great to see the dragon boat festival growing bigger year after year and attracting teams from out of state to compete at the Haulover Park,” Miami-Dade County Commissioner Heyman, greeting all participants and guests on her first outdoor event after back surgery. “Haulover Park is an ideal and perfect park to host the Dragon Boat Festival,” stated Miami-Dade County Park & Recreation Department Director Jack Kardys. “Special thanks to UCAF for hosting this great community cultural exchange festival with competitive races and exciting programs at the Park.” “Florida is a multi-diverse community with people from all over the world. It’s an important lesson for people to learn how to understand and live in harmony in order to learn from each other,” said Owen Hsieh, Director General of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Miami. “South Florida Dragon Boat Festival becoming a popular and most attended Asian cultural event is the best bridge to bring all age groups to participate at an outdoor activity. Through the Chinese tradition of dragon boat race and Asian cultural performances and food, this would attract people to understand each other’s culture in both educational and entertaining way.” Sights and colors of the Orient filled the park, with Asian performances including John Wai’s Kung Fu Academy’s Lion Dance and Kung Fu demonstration, powerful Ronin’s Japanese Taiko Drum, Chinese folk dances by Miami Chinese Language School, colorful Middle Eastern Belly dances by six Belly Dance instructors and studios, Polynesian dance by the Polynesian Cultural Association, and Bangladeshi dances. Throughout the park area, the general public was invited to learn and practice Tai Chi by Taoist Tai Chi Society’s Tai Chi instructors. For the first time, Wok Star’s Eleanor Hoh demonstrated her creative approach to wok cooking that puts the fun back into cooking. Hoh also donated 2 certificates as raffle drawing prizes to attend her cooking class to find out the “secret for a successful stir-fly”. “Paddle for Health” pavilion - special thanks to Jackson Memorial Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Miami-Dade County Health Department for providing free blood pressure check-up, tobacco prevention and women health prevention; Atlantic Dental for oral hygiene information; JMH Health Connect on Wheel for signing up children insurance coverage; and Injury Free Coalition mobile for free children’s helmets and education on child injury prevention. In addition to the health pavilion, there were various arts & craft vendors, bank and mortgage booths, and cultural and community service booths. All participants had a chance to taste the various authentic ethnic foods. The highlight of the second day was the exciting Egg Roll Eating Contest. This year, Steven Gotlib (the 4th place winner of the National Corn Eating Contest) challenged other contestants to be the fastest egg roll eater. After 3 minutes 50 seconds, Daniel Zapata, a student of North Miami Beach Senior High, won the title of the fastest Egg Roll Eater. A special thanks to Panda Express for sponsoring the egg rolls. The 500-meter South Florida Cup Champion, the highlight of the race, was won by a local team, Miami Red Dragons by only 0.01 second over Ocean Rescue Dragons. “In this type of boat racing, technique and practice are more important than physical fitness,” said Johnson Ng, executive director of the United Chinese Association of Florida, the event sponsor. Nevertheless, Miami-Dade County’s Ocean Rescue Dragon defended the Men’s Gold medal for the fifth year in a row. Women’s Gold medal went to the Tampa Bay and Red Dragon combined team. Mixed Division’s winner was Miami Red Dragons. Corporate Cup Gold went to MotoDragons, Silver to Chase Dragons and Bronze to KOFI. The Academy Cup’s winner was UM House of Rowing Dragons and the Kung Fu Cup to Dueling Dragons. The Community Open Invitation’s Gold went to Florida Key’s Team Godzilla, UCAF’s Golden Dragon to the Silver and CSCCA Dream Team got the Bronze. In addition to fun bounce houses, a dragon boat drawing contest and a kite contest were among the activities offered to children in Kids Dragonland. ''We're really having a good time,'' said Grettel of Surfside, who attended the event Oct. 14 with her family. “This is a great unique cultural family festival to have so close to home and there is so much for everyone to do. I will help to get more people know about this from the Haulover neighborhood for next year.” Harry S. from Tampa Bay and Del Rio from Miami Beach were the lucky winners of the grand prizes of two round-trip tickets sponsored by Eva Airlines. “The weather and nature condition is so perfect to host the Dragon Boat races in Miami,” said Sunny Lam, Executive Director of Montreal International Dragon Boat Festival, who has been the Chief Race Official for the past two years. “There is no doubt that the success of the Festival is the result of the climate, the straight race courses, and people’s support, volunteerism and enthusiasm on the Dragon Boat Festival.”
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2006 South Florida
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2005 Dragon Boat Marathon |
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