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Paddles Ready is your go-to podcast for everything happening in the world of paddle racing.
Hosted by Dougie and Hando, the show brings you inside the sport with race reviews, real-time commentary, and conversations with paddlers from across the globe. Whether it’s breaking down major competitions, sharing behind-the-scenes stories, or hearing directly from the athletes shaping the sport, this podcast keeps you connected to the pulse of paddle racing.
From elite races to grassroots scenes, Paddles Ready covers it all, giving you insight, perspective, and the stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
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Conversations with paddlers and industry voices worldwide
Commentary on trends, performances, and competition results
Stories from the front lines of paddle racing
If you follow paddle racing or want to understand it better, this is where you stay informed.
👉 Visit paddlesready.com for more episodes and updates.
Woo! Good morning, Dougie
I tell you what, we are getting some red hot paddlers in boats at the moment. It's like it's a super league of
dragon boats. All the best surf ski paddlers in the world. We put them in a dragon boat, right? Yeah. They've never been in a drag- and they're all surf skis against the diggers.
Are
we stealing paddlers? Borrowing them. What makes Canada such a strong international global team, and what have you done to give yourself that edge?
Paddling is actually part of Canadians' DNA.
The next 10 years, what, uh, what's coming on for Canada?
You want me to give you all our
secrets? She's on the spot.
Come on, Canada.
Le championnat des
clubs. Ah, ooh la la. Je ne sais pas. Ho ho ho ho.
Paddles ready.
This is Paddles Ready, the global voice of paddle sports. Live commentary, race coverage, athlete stories, and expert analysis from across the world of paddling. From dragon boat racing to ocean ski, this is where the competition, the culture, and the stories come together. Let's get into it.
Woo! Good morning, Dougie.
Morning, Hando. How are you?
Oh, I tell you what, we've- we've- we've- we've- we've gone all the way to, uh, the Canuck territory. Julie Robitaille. Wow. Good to have you on board. Welcome,
Julie. Welcome.
Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. I'm very excited about this.
Uh, well, look, we've been, we've been talking about it for a while.
Um, for the viewers, we've got a great guest. Julie was in with us in- in- in Brandenburg. Actually, Julie, you were commentating with me in, uh, in Italy as well. I remember you came up and said, "I wanna do the 2000s."
Yes. I- I, well, yeah, we tr- I tried that, but it didn't work out. But yes, we did have a chat in, uh, Ravenna, and then you- you chased me down in Brandenburg.
And that's where I got to meet you, and you came and did some comment. Yeah. Yep.
And, uh, yeah, that's the that... And all that led to today, right?
Absolutely. So, so for all the people tuning in, Julie is the, uh, el presidente of, uh, the Canadian Dragon Boat Federation. Um-
Yes, Dragon Boat Canada ...
Drag- Dragon Boat Canada.
O- O- and we love that, we love that national anthem, "O Canada," and we hear it a lot in Brand- in Brandenburg. So Dougie- It's an, it's an awesome, it's an awesome... This is, this is me up early, you're up early, and Julie's just about to be, uh, 1:00 after the, uh, uh, uh, uh, after the thing. So let's get straight into it.
We're paddles ready, and, uh, we're talking with Julie in Canada.
That we are. And the first thing that, uh, comes to mind with me and Julie and the Canadian team, uh, Nick, was that, uh, 500 in Brandenburg. Uh, you were just pipped by the Chinese. Um, it was one of my favorite calls, but I didn't realize how strong an edge and how strong your team had become globally.
And I guess going forward and asking the questions, what makes Canada such a strong international global team, and what have you done to give yourself that edge to be as good as what you are in this current day?
It's, it's a very interesting question, and when you look at it, because, you know, Canada, we are, um, a very northern country, right?
We are not on the water 12 months like a lot of countries can have the opportunity to paddle all year long. But I think to understand what makes us, um, strong in the dragon boat universe or community, you have to understand the Canadian history, the history of Canada and the culture of Canada. So what I mean by that is Canada is a very vast territory to, um, with tons of water, like lakes, rivers, and all that, and it goes all the way back to our First Nations communities that would actually canoe around Canada.
That was their transportation system. That was how they would transport food, that was materials, like people all around. So paddling is actually part of Canadians' DNA. We've been doing it for, for centuries, right? So it, it's ingrained inside of us, even though we don't have the opportunity to, uh, um, paddle all year long.
And, um, just a bit of that being said, you have to look at also the history of our organisation, our association, Dragon Boat Canada. So the sport has been present for almo- for over 40 years here now in Canada. And, um, the association dr- of the first association for Dragon Boat was actually started in 1994.
It was called the Dragon Boat Racing Kulture of Canada, and it had been created because there was a women's team at Falls Creek. There's a dragon boat club in Falls Creek in BC. With Carmeny.
With Carmeny Jang.
Absolutely. That wanted to race at the IDBF, and you needed to have a national organisation. So we're all the way back into 1994, right?
So it started there, and it evolved. And so Dragon Boat Canada, in the form that it currently exists, it has, it started unofficially, um, in 2004. But we do have somebody right now working, like a, a staff if you want, for Dragon Boat Canada since 2006, and we've just been building on that. We have, um, uh, a great community here.
We have, like the, the, the association has created committees with devoted volunteers. Um, since 2007, we have our cur- our bylaws that obviously all, all of our documentation's upgraded and reviewed every cycle. So yeah, and it's a very athlete-focused sport here and, uh, we take care of our people, so. So Doug, I, I, I find it fascinating that you remember that race.
I hope you realise that all the co- like in all programs, Canada is strong. You actually, in-
There's, there's some other stuff, Julie, that- There's other stuff, but that was just one of our favorites that we commentated and, uh-
Uh, and touching back to Falls Creek, Dougie, I was very lucky enough, Carmeny took me down when I went to, to Vancouver and went round the island and walked there and, uh, I've known Carmeny for a long time.
She was a... And, and we're, we're gonna get her on one day too, I'm pretty, pretty, pretty sure. She was a, an Olympian C1, right? And, and Dougie, you'll remember, um, our great friend from Brisbane River Dragons, the Canadian Gary Quartermaine. Yep.
Yep. I do, I do. So he,
we, we, we, we, we go, we go way back with the Canucks, with the Canadians, Julie.
So-
Just coming back just, and to finish up that question, it amazes me, and to use the Chinese, I mean, you know, they're the founders and the whole thing. In 40 years you have become a world-recognized racing team and going up against a nation that has 2,000-plus years experience. It is just crazy. Your, your program, your training methods, um, the, the How to Dragon Boat book must be just full of great stuff for Canada to be so powerful within 40 years.
And then that leads to a big passion f- of Hando's and mine is the youth participation, your youth program. Um- What is the pathway? I mean, it's only been 40 years. What's the pathway of the youth, and what could you be doing that is better to make C- Team Canada even better?
Well, clearly youth is, um, is, is, is a very strong component.
I think every nation and country has to focus on the development of youth right now. So if we were to go back to what I would have done maybe differently or what we could have done differently, there was an opportunity in the past to have, um, maybe have created stronger bonds in the education systems here.
Like in Canada, you have Canada, but every... There's countries, uh, excuse me, provinces, and every provinces has their own education system and rules right there. So currently, some provinces have, um, made new regulations that it's a bit harder to introduce sports into those environments, right? So going back, it, like we sort of missed that boat years ago, but we were still building a strong community and a strong, like everything we have about dragon boat in Canada.
So I think moving forward it would be v- we, we really have to focus on that. In Canada, a few c- a few years ago, we changed the, um, category from 24 UPS. Like I don't know if you were aware th- about that, for we, we changed the parameters of that, 'cause we were sort of losing some of our youth that were, um, in the great, in the good age category.
But if some people were no longer, decided not to go to university or whatever, they could no longer paddle in that category. So we're changing the parameters of that. We're actually keeping those people mo- included in the sport a bit more longer. So, like they don't have to disengage when their friends keep on going to school and they don't because they choose another path or, uh, or whatever.
So that's something that we did. And being
so cold up in Canada, has the ice dragon started taking off?
Uh, there was a few in the past, but no, it's not, it's not really a thing yet, ice dragon boat. Uh, it's very impressive. I have personally done it in, um, yeah, but it, it's not the same thing. Well, that's on our
bucket list.
We're taking the podcast to Mongolia, aren't we, Ando?
We're, we're gonna go to Mongolia and, uh, uh- Which is- There'll be no snow, it'll just be ice. We're- ... it'll be going backwards.
I think ice dragon boat is a... Yeah, it's more about getting t- all your crews together and actually in a boat, but it's not quite the same thing.
Yeah. A-
a- and, and you were talking about vast in Canada, like Australia's a big place, and yeah, and, and our weather conditions are a bit more conducive to, to paddling all year round. Um, I ran into, after Dougie, you were, you were talking about the strength of the juniors and the clubs and, and, and, and, and we can touch on that again.
But I think it was the first time, and correct me if I'm wrong, that China had been beaten in that- straight race, Canada got a gold medal in the World Nations, correct?
I, uh, oh, you're challenging me on that? But I am pretty sure that, yes, 'cause when I saw the excitement of that team when they got off the water, I would
concur.
It's the first time in that premier.
Yeah, and it was their objective. They've been striving for that for many, many, many cycles, so yeah. Yeah. A-
and, and Doug- Dougie, just like when we used to be in, in, in Hong Kong where we first started paddling, you had, uh, the, the, um, a lot of the, uh, what do they call them?
The, the C- CB- the, the Chinese-born, uh, Canadians, the CBCs, like the ABCs and, and ABCs. And, and it's a massive community in Canada, which is, which is, which evolves with the culture. Um, and, and you alluded to the, the, the, the canoe. So, and I know Doug, you know me going off tangent a little bit, but-
Well, you've probably heard about people like in Europe will refer to the Canadian canoe, right?
Yes, that's where I was going, the C1. Yeah.
But looking at the size of the team you guys took to Brandenburg, it just shows how strong the, the country is in dragon boating. That was a big squad that you guys took.
Absolutely. And watch us moving forward.
So go- well, going, with us going forward here on the podcast, Hando and I have been talking a fair bit about 2032 Brisbane.
We've got the Olympics coming up. Um, dragon boating always is, you know, is an Olympic sport. It was a trial sport, I think the Chinese back in, you know, a few years ago. Far as Canada goes as a country and as an association with dragon boating, are you into the participation or are you looking at going more elite?
Are you gonna try and manage both of them or have you got your foot in one camp and not so much in the other? Where's Canada sit as far as, uh, elitism, professionalism or participation?
Well, thank you. Very interesting question. Um, I say that like w- what you guys see of, of, of our Canadian teams and crews and what we bring to, like to, to worlds and to club crews is our elite, right?
But I think that one thing that we do very well in Canada is to balance both out. We do have the recreational, recreational level, and in Canada we have currently, we have around 230 clubs across the country, different clubs and different sizes and all that. We have overall in an, in a year 250, um, dragon boat events.
Some are smaller, they, th- like they go from six- Maybe teams that registered to that event, to all the way to 300 events. So, uh, 300 teams that might be registered to an event. So I think that we, we, something we do well here in Canada is really balancing it out. We have over, have over 100,000 paddlers here in the country, but you only see our, our elite paddlers that, that go to the international events and to the IDBF events.
But it, the balance is already there, so, um, I think it's just to continue pursuing that. And, um, one thing I think that would be interesting to, to move f- well, yeah, let's, let's leave it at that. But yeah, uh, I think the balance is already there.
So I throw, I threw this, uh, question to Hando in one of our takeouts where I don't tell him what we're doing and I give him a bit of a controversy.
I call it controversy. A question. Can you, m- Mike... And this is just going on from what we're just talking about. Does Julie from Canada right now, do you see this, our sport, as an Olympic sport? Or is it just going to be a participation sport?
She's on the
spot. Come on, Canada.
No, no, but like, who would not?
Like, that's, like, just like, just generally speaking, what sport would not gain to have visibility in the Olympics? So I think that anybody would like to support that. Um, at what price? That's the question. Like, I think it would be great if, um, the Olympics would bring us in as a standalone sport. Like, like, that the IDBF be introduced, like, to the IOC and all that, so.
Well, that's what it is, Julie. Dragon boating, and we talked to Claudia, it is a sport. It's not a discipline. It's its own sport.
Yes, but like there, y- there, the, where there's a whole political- issue there that, like, I don't want to extend because I'm not in the, like I'm not in the international level, so that's not my conversation.
But the IDBF currently, I respect that they are the world governing body of dragon boat. Um, and I would like to see them have a seat at the table and actually bring us into, um, the Olympics. Um, for me in Canada, of course we would love that. Getting dragon boat into the Olympics as a standalone sport, we would actually have access to funding.
We do not have funding here in Canada for dragon boat, so that would help us a lot. I know it's different but for different countries, but that would be something that would help us do that. Um, some ideas about that, because that could be interesting, because, um, many sports, um, have a Olympic format, right?
What, what you see at the Olympics is not necessarily the format that they race usually in their sport. So maybe we have to review and do something like that, like small boat could help that. Maybe, um, para could be our way in. Para is a division, para, para dragon boat, para athletes is very strong and developing very strong.
Maybe going through the para- like maybe that could be a path in. There's many things that could be interesting there. But, um, yes, like for sure I am in full support of moving dra- having dragon boat in the Olympics. And I do understand the Olympics, the challenges they have of bringing us in with our standard boats, our big crews, the large number of athletes that they would have to bring in, so.
Well, similar to Rugby Sevens, they had to do, they, they, they, they can't do the 15s so they brought the sevens in. We've got the small, we've got the small boats and it's still electric when you see these premier team. And it, and, and it, and it only has to be elite because that's the Olympic, it's the best of the best.
Of course. Like you would not see, uh, um, like in the Olympics, like it would be our premier programs, it would be our strongest programs, it would be our strongest athletes. Um- Yeah. And you do it well,
Julie. You, you, Ca- Canada does it well as a business. Like you've got, I think we're gonna be interviewing a, a dragon boat gym, but, um, Matt Smith and, and, and a lot of all the different provinces, they do it so, so well.
Well, Matt Smith was a, uh, very important, like, player. Like he was president also for Dragon Boat Canada for years. He's part of the people that set this up. Like our, our nationals, like we have nationals here since, I think it's twe- 2006 that we hold nationals every year. So we have very strong, strong, strong teams.
Like any country or like anybody should come and everybody should come race us at nationals. When you look at the, uh, club crews, when, who's on the podium, like Canada always has teams on those podiums, right?
Absolutely. Like you, you're talking globally. Uh, Dougie, did you wanna touch on like obviously you, you got a bit of...
Is, is there a French twang in there, Julie?
What do you mean by French twang? Like that's, what does that mean in Australia, Nick?
No, but you know, us, us Aussies talking to you. But, but you're from, are you from Quebec?
I am from, I was actually born in Toronto, um, but, uh, but my parents are French, are Quebecois, and, uh, we moved, they moved me when I was young to Quebec, so I was raised in Quebec City.
And, um, but, uh, yeah, and I live now in Got- Gatineau and, uh, I paddle, uh, and I train with Bytown, which a club here that you, you, you've seen the neon yellow, so yeah. The
famous neon yellow. Actually, I, I ran into the, in Berlin Airport, the, the French guy with the red hair. What was his name again?
Yes, David Marechal.
Oh, well, he was French too. He, uh, there we go. He must have been a French Canadian. He's from Montreal,
and he, he's French- He's Montreal ... but he's from Montreal, and he has paddled on both our premier and our senior A teams, so.
On, on, at a national level. The whole family
paddles. His son was also on the national team in the juniors, and his wife also paddles, so.
Well, Dougie, Dougie, Dougie and I were talking about that inter, inter, intergenerational, your, your, your, your, your, your kid, your mom, your grandma can all paddle in the same boat. It's always like, "Okay, Dougie, back to you."
Yes, no. Well, that just leads into my next question, Julie. The next 10 years, what, uh, what's coming on for Canada?
What's it look like? What have you done that's right, and where can you be better as a country as far as dragon boating?
You want me to give, you want me to give you all our secrets?
No, no, no, no, no.
Well, we, we got Tommy coming on soon. We'll have a USA, Canada, Canada interaction. It'll be great.
Tie the question in what's in the next 10 years, along with your recent world champs, what you got right, what you felt you got right, without having to tell us your training re- regimes.
Don't put that out there. But what, what did you get right at the world champs? And then going forward, where, where are you going?
I see where you're going with this. So, um, what did we get right at the... Like, I think that, um, our, our biggest strength in Canada is our coaches. We have, like, our coaching system, what we are doing, our coach development programs, like, uh, we, we are doing great on that.
We also have a succession plan when we have coaches. We have high-performance coaches. We have people learning from those high-performance coaches, so there's a strong structure there, and I think that's what is showing with the athletes, right? The results you get with the athletes come from strong coaching and from a strong plan of making sure that we always have people to come back in when other people decide to retire or move out or whatever.
So it's the whole succession and the quality of the coaches that we have here in Canada. Like we, it's, it's amazing what you can get here in terms of coaching. So that, that is the major thing that we, that's, that shows in the results that we get. As much at Worlds at, at Club Crew, because we have very strong clubs too.
So it's all about the coaching that we have here. In the, um, moving forward, what can, what can we do in the next 10 years? I would love to develop youth even more. Um, right now our youth is coming a lot through our, our seniors who have children that are coming into the sport, but we would like ... So that is a great way to introduce people to our sport.
But I think, um, moving, um, more into like the education systems, maybe having more of a like a varsity, um, competition through universities and stuff like that, developing that might be very interesting too. So developing that youth. And then having those people that join into youth or U24, um, have a pathway to move forward in the sport, a clear pathway.
Sometimes there's barriers there, so to move to stay in the sport. So start in the juniors, 24U, premier, and then move into the seniors. Like develop through the sport and follow through that. That would be very great. Um, other things that I would like to see happen just in, in, at Canada, like the challenges that we have right now, our sport and our community has grown very much.
So, um, I would like at Dragon Boat Canada, maybe we have a bit more staff. We are lucky that we have tons of great, amazing volunteers on our committees. We have numerous, you have no idea the numbers of committees and dedicated people we have on board here at Dragon Boat Canada. But I think at a, at an ad- administrative level, we need a bit more help.
We have one person, and that person, uh, is pretty overwhelmed right now. So like I would like to be able to bring somebody else in there. But also in the next 10 years, something else I would like to do is, um, uh, we have, we're having this season, the Pan American, our second edition of the Pan American Club Crews.
So this is a joint event that we are organizing with the USA. So like you ha- you know, they have your European competitions and Asia, so we want to have our North American thing, so it's our second edition this year. We do it every other year, because one season we have ev- like both USA and us have our qualifiers for the club crew.
So we, the other year we're having this, which is great. I would- Is that clubs?
Clubs or national against each other?
It's clubs. It's a, it's the Pan American Club Clue Ch- Club Crew Championships.
So- It's a tongue twister. Say that in, say that in French
Le championnat des clubs.
Oh yeah, that's what I thought.
I got, I got that
The champion des clubs de bateaux dragon.
Ah, ooh la la, je ne sais pas. Oh ho, ha ha.
So I'd like that to continue evolving. That's be- that would be very, like, that would be something very precious to me. And also we have the Pan American Dragon Boat Federation and they have the Pan American Club Crew Championships that were hosted last season in Montreal.
They're happening in 2027 in Brazil and I'd like to have more and more Canadian crews participating to that so we have a very, um, our Americas, if you want, at a larger level have our own thing going on as Europe has their thing going on, Asia has their thing going on, so I think we need to have our thing going on also on.
Well, it doesn't sound like, sorry Nick, it doesn't sound like Canada has a problem with growth and leadership. It sounds like you guys are leading the world in it. I mean, you're talking about your coaches. You know, these coaches, you know, it's, it's not a paid sport really at the end of the day, but your coaching and your-
It is
in Canada.
And your, your regime and your co- your coaching, uh, techniques and all that are working and, um, uh, you need to be congratulated on your growth and your leadership from the people at the top. Now, you on a personal level, Julie, you've just taken a major leadership role. What's been your biggest challenge to date and what has surprised you along the way on your new journey?
Well, please note that I am very new, right? Uh, I just hit the one-year mark. I became president in April last year so it, uh, there's a learning curve there, um, for sure. That being said, um, uh, I have been on the board of Dragon Boat Canada for years now. I came in in I think it's 2018 or 2019. I have been on multiple committees already and I've been already involved at s- several levels of the sport and becoming president of Dragon Boat Canada was not something that was dropped on me.
It was planned. There was a succession plan and, um, I had the privilege of having very generous people around me in terms of... It's a very strong community. People are very open to sharing and helping. Like, people truly wanna develop the sport and see the sport grow and are very generous in that. So, um, I think I became well, I came in well prepared knowing this and, um, it was pretty easy because the past leadership that has been in this, uh, so in this organization for, like all the past presidents, I think everybody sort of had the same vision of where to bring the sport.
So when you align with that and you, I ha- I took the this on in a, in a strong organization. Um, so it, it, uh, with very, very, um, I have a strong board of directors too. That helps a lot. We have a lot of people that have been on the board for a while too now that know the sport well. So I didn't have too many challenges on that level, so w- I could come in with my own, uh, ideas.
Um, I'm a bit different because in the past the leadership, um, was involved differently in the sport. We have the people that were in the sport in the past were either, um, club, club o- dragon boat club owners, um, dragon boat club developers in terms of, um, they would, uh, organize events. Um, they would be people that import boats or stuff like that.
Um, I do not make my, I do not, um, pay my bills with dragon boat. I am a- No, it's a,
it's a passion. It's a love ... it's a
passion, so I bring some sort, like, sort of that vision in terms of developing the sport. I am truly here to develop it for the, the paddlers and the members and the growth of the sport, right?
So it's a, but, but I do align in everything that has been done in the past, and I think it, it, it, it was, it's great and I'm very happy to have taking this on, so.
Well, I think, and I keep going back to it, for a country that's only taking the sport on in, uh, just over 40 years, and where you sit internationally and your growth and leadership and your youth pipeline, um, I can't wait to see where you are.
I don't think we'll be around, but, uh, come 100 years it'll be, uh, getting ready for those Olympics, I reckon. Maybe a gold.
Well, there's a lot of stuff. Like, I can tell you, I can, if I can add something on here, um, I, I had the opportunity a few weeks ago, I was invited by the, uh, president of the IDBF, uh, Claudio, uh, Claudio, to do a two presentations, uh, to the council of the IDBF because we had some ideas and we have some, like I said, we have some great committees here in Canada, and we wanted to propose a few things to, um, the IDBF.
The first one, and it, it, it sort of- ties into the IO, the, the Olympics and all that. But, um, we have a veterans committee, a very active veterans committee here that had the idea of making a proposal to, um, actually, um, propose to the Invictus Games to add dragon boat, right? So there might be, uh, so I did a presentation to the IDBF about, about that because it's a project that should be led by the IDBF, which is, which is our international federation.
But I think that the addition to dragon, of dragon boat to any multi-event sport is also a good thing that shows, like if we wanna move into the Olympics, it's something that could be very interesting for them to see that we are part of multi-event sports, right? So that-
We just had the Invictus section in our, in our Australian national titles.
There was a whole- Great ... Invictus ration. It was great. Yeah.
So dragon boat should be, should be part of that. It's like it's integral and we have the, we have veterans teams and we have para-athletes. Both of those are very important. And the other thing, I just wanna piggyback a bit on what, w- with the conversation you had with Mary, but I had the opportunity to pr- to make a proposal to the IDBF about the Senior D category, right?
Um, we are one of the fastest growing sports. So, um, Dragon Boat Canada made an official proposal to the council that we integrate the Senior D category, um, for the, uh, next worlds in 2027 in Hong Kong. So we're waiting to hear back from them. Hopefully, they will look at this and, uh, um, it would be a great thing to do.
It, like moving forward, it's very clear that this is gonna happen. I don't think it's a question of if, I think it's a question of when and how the IDBF is going to do it, because it is very obvious that the, the, the members are there, the teams are there, and the sport keeps on developing there and, and, and yeah.
So, uh, I, I was very thankful to have the opportunity to do that at the IDBF Council.
That, that, that, that's amazing. And, and Dougie, when you've got Mi- um, you know, Mary were talking about, uh, the breast cancer. Teams like, uh, Falls Creek, Pickering, H2O, uh, your, your Bytowns, uh, y- your, your True North, do they all have their breast cancer a- and older divisions as well incorporated in all those teams?
And, and look, there's so many teams. I was just mentioning a few that I know of.
I don't know if they, I couldn't say if they all have them. I know a lot of them have them. But what's interesting is I know of clubs that were literally born because of a, of, of a breast cancer team that developed and that brought on the rest of the club, right?
So they, sometimes it's that is the pathway to dragon boat and bringing dragon boat into a certain community, and sometimes it's the club that has a demand and then creates that. So there's, there's different ways. Um- Powerful women,
powerful women again, just-
Powerful women again. It's not limited to women, though.
I do know of a dragon boat, a breast cancer survivor that had a man on it.
Oh, there's a couple. Mary said there was a couple getting around.
Yeah. Yeah.
Um, okay. So we're gonna pretty much... W- this has been awesome, but, uh, but I've got a couple more question- well, one more in particular. No, no, no, no. What's one moment in dragon boating, either as an athlete or as a leader, that still gives you goosebumps as we speak here today?
There's, there's so many, right? Like, it, it's an amazing sport. It's so inclusive and, like, there's so many moments that are marked in my mind. Like, the first time that I was at a race and I saw the, um, breast cancer ceremony when they do the flower ceremony. Like, there, there's something very touching about seeing that, right?
To this day, when it happens, like sometimes I'm doing something at an event and as... I have to stop and just l- take that moment in. I think it's a beautiful moment that we have. As an athlete, um, wi- winning go- gold at a CCWC, uh, with your team is very, very interesting. Um, it's something- I saw that in
Ravenna
uh, in Ravenna and, like, we, we won and it was like we broke at the finish from the rest of the boats and just opening up and finishing, like, three boats in front of everybody at that 500 meter line. It was something that was incredible with the team. So, and I was recovering from an injury at that time, so for me on a personal level, that was very, um, um, mark-ful.
But, um, like having, um, I, I, I... So Doug, so, you know, like, I coach, I paddle, I steer, I drum. So as a coach, having my first, um, athletes that I started out years ago, um, make the national team in different divisions, age categories, that is something that is, that I, I, I really appreciated. I was very moved when they got selected into those categories.
Um, and, and to know that at the day sometimes that you do things when you're in this sport you don't realize, but then you change clubs sometimes, and you have people that follow you, and you realize the impact that you had on people's lives too. It's very interesting, too. And it's just the whole inclusivity that we have.
Like, anybody can dragon boat You don't have-- Like we're talking about we got to know each other and all of this is about, um, the high performance paddling, right? But it's just a sport that anybody could do. Like I, um, have a paddler in my club that went to a camp lately. She's 81, and I didn't tell the coach her age.
He just reached out and s- he said, "Do you think this person would fit into, uh, our team?" And I was like, "Oh, yeah, yeah." Like I didn't say anything. "No, no problem. Take her on." And after the week at camp, he's like, "Uh, did you get any feedback?" I said, "Yeah, it went-- they, they really enjoyed the camp." And I said, "What do you think of this person?"
And he was like, "Yeah, she moved well." I was like, "She was 81." He was like, "What?" So, and 81 doing a training boat camp like, like three weeks ago, right? So it's, so it's keeping people active. It's keeping bo- it's, it's keeping people social, 'cause there's a whole community family part of this sport, right? Um, it's, it's people that are, are, um, like a lot of women come to this sport, like in the senior categories after they've gone through stuff in their personal lives too.
So there's, there's a lot of interesting stories there. Like, there's so much things that I, that I like personally don't wanna share, people that shared with me or whatever, but there's, there's so many, Doug, I couldn't name one or two. It's, it, uh, there's not a season that goes by that nothing happens that is dear to me in my heart that at the end of the season, like when I recollect it, it, it, it moves me.
It's a great sport.
Dougie, before we wrap up, that's, that's pretty much why what we're doing, Julie, with Paddles Ready and just we've on- y-y-you know, what we're doing globally and interacting with people is bringing the people together, and then we meet. You, you talk about, um, cross continents, we meet at, at different championships.
So, you know, the, the, you're part of the Paddles Ready team now. We, we, we, we, we, we, we, we love it and we're spreading the word and we need the federations. Like Ma-Mary that was on, you should see the, the, the comments and the shares on... I'm not really a, a, I'm not, I'm not really a social, so-social butterfly with the tech.
Oh, you're a social butterfly. You just
Well, well, hey, you just gotta, you gotta spread, you gotta spread, spread the word, spread the love. But, but Dougie, what, what, what else have you got in store for, for our, our French Canadians?
Yeah, I've gone through everything now. It's, uh, like you said, it's, uh, we'll meet again and we'll see each other up in Taipei and, uh, we'll definitely-- we're going to have the couch up there in our little, uh, media booth.
So we're gonna get Julie on the, uh, couch and, um, do some live stuff. We're gonna have her more
because she, she's not paddling. She's gonna be, she's gonna be on hand for Paddles Ready to, to, to grab people, and that's the interaction that we've got. We want to activate these events like you saw, uh, and we started off in, in, in the club cruise in Italy, and the interaction was fab.
And then we took it to a whole different level in Brandenburg, Dougie, like the people, the people responding. So a- as Julie mentions, like she's there on a, on the, on a, on a Canadian, um, representation, not, not as a national team. Is that correct, Julie?
Absolutely. Well, it's a club cruise, so it's not national team in Taiwan, so yeah.
So I'm gonna have a lot more avail- availability there. So yeah, maybe you'll check me out at some point.
More time with us on the foreshore doing interviews and 60 Seconds with Julie, I can just see it. Um, but other than that, I reckon we have absolutely nailed this podcast this morning and this evening over there in Canada.
Uh, Julie, thank you so, so much for giving us your time, and I know, uh, people around the world are gonna be listening and, uh, on their way on the radio or, you know, on the video itself. But, uh, giving your time to Hando and I, um, we truly, truly, uh, loved having you on the show. Uh,
I wanna say I just... I would just like to s- to take a second and, and switch to French.
Et je voudrais saluer toute la communauté de bateau dragon au niveau international. Ça me fait plaisir, là, de participer à cette podcast aujourd'hui avec Nick et Doug, et, euh, ça va me faire plaisir aussi d'être à Taiwan et de tous vous voir sur l'eau. N'hésitez pas à venir me saluer. So thank you, guys.
This was really fun. I hope, uh, we get to do it again. And, uh, yeah, I hope I'm, I was a bit interesting or and we go viral like Mary did.
Absolutely. Well, I'm Hando. I'm Dougie. This is Julie, and we are Paddles Ready. Paddles Ready. Give us a paddles ready, Julie. Woo!
For another segment of 60 Seconds with Dougie, and we are still here at the national titles, and I am with... Retired paddler, Aiden. From what club? Prison Typhoon. Okey dokes. Yes. Worst excuse you've heard that someone hasn't come to training? I don't have time. The kids, the kids is doing something they shouldn't.
Cool.
My dog wants me to stay home. Cool. Downwind or grind? Downwind.
Early
morning training- Actually, grinds. Grinds? I feel like there's more trade-off.
Okay. Early morning training or a sleep in?
Early morning training. What's
more important, fitness or technique? That's
a tough one. I'm gonna say technique- Okay
'cause anyone, even if you're not fit, you can jump in the boat and if you have technique, you can still do well in the race. Okay. Carbon fiber or wooden paddle? Carbon fiber.
Coffee before or after training? Before and after. Biggest talker on the boat when you were paddling?
Many.
Sprint or distance?
Sprint.
Beers or lemonade at a regatta afterwards? Neither. I settle for tea. Favorite regatta you've competed in around the world? Chevy Your one tip that instantly makes a new paddler a better
paddler? Enjoy the process. Don't be too hard on yourself. Yeah. It comes in time.
Complete this sentence: If I wasn't paddling, I'd be...
I would
be at CrossFit. Or cycling.
Are the rumors true? Are you coming back
paddling?
Some may say I'm coming back.
Yes, I'm coming back. Good stuff. Next week. 60 Seconds with Dougie.
Thanks, Adam. Bye.
Micko. Dougie. It's hot take time. Oh, here we go. You know ... he's trouble. I'm always in trouble. I'm always in trouble. Guys, I'm always in trouble. Hando's hot take, or Dougie's hot take. Well, the, I don't know, we'll talk to the producer. Hando's hand out, Dougie's hot take. Yeah, there you go. What do you got for me?
Mate, my hot take, I'm noticing- Mm ... geez, there's some big paddlers coming over into our sport. And are we stealing paddlers? Like- Yeah. I'm just ask- putting it out there. What do you mean? From other clubs, or? No, like disciplines. Oh. I'm noticing there's a lot of outrigger guys, girls coming across, surf ski, canoe.
Stand up. Stand up paddleboard. Well, where are they- Wow. That, that, that's, uh- Is there a push by, um, the movement, you know, by the federations that they're getting? 'Cause I tell you what, we are getting some red hot paddlers in boats at the moment. Athletes coming across
the outriggers- Yep ... that have come across, those WARO 100 waters that I've seen.
Oh, yes. Wow. Yeah. A lot of outriggers. In America, great cross-training. Yep. Um, they're coming up. There used to be always a, a bit of a, a, a contention, "Oh, no, we're outriggers" or "We're dragon boaters." But- Yeah ... no, I've, I've been seeing it come across, and it's great. It's great cross-training when the outriggers have their Sprint Worlds on.
Yeah.
But imagine, like, you, you know, you're talking about the Olympics, those K1, the, the C... Like, what's her name? The- Yeah,
uh,
Jess Fox ... Jess Fo- imagine her at the front of a boat. Jess,
if you're watching- Anyone know Jess? No, I was gonna say, Jess, if you're watching- Foxy ... get, get, get yourself up to Queensland, come and, come have, have a paddle with us.
Oh, but, but yeah, surf skiers, outriggers. It's like, remember back in the '90s, the Super League era, and people were poaching, you know, the- Oh, yeah ... paying big money for footy players to go to the- De-union the league ... league. Leave the union. And there was all this code swapping and this and that. It's like it's a super league of dragon boats.
But the athletes that
are producing, can you imagine if it was in the Olympics? Oh. I don't know. You'd have the dragon boaters, your outriggers, your- 100% ... your surf ski paddlers. Actually, one year in the Shamal- Yeah ... in, in Dubai, 2011, when I did our first Paddle for the Planet- Yep ... we had Clint Robinson, David Mockaire, Oscar Chalupsky, all the Eur- all the best surf ski paddlers in the world.
We put them in a dragon boat, right? Yeah. They'd never been in a drag- And they're all surf skis against the diggers. They almost- Was Kenny
Wallace in that team?
Uh,
maybe he was. I don't know. I can't remember. But they, but they- Yeah ... mate. Australian number one. Waterman.
Waterman. Yeah.
So all you watermen, I don't know, it's a great hot take.
Well, I'm seeing it, and you know I'm down there and I'm on the coalface all the time, and I am seeing some red hot paddlers coming from other forms and other disciplines, and they're jumping in the boat.
Are they gonna go back? Are they
gonna steal dragon boaters across to their sports? Well, that's a good question, again.
Lots of
ex-Ironmen.
There is a lot of Ironman. A lot of
ex-surf ski paddlers- Yeah ... that, you know, that little hop in a boat, 'cause it's pulling that water and hitting that catch- 100% ... and understanding the water and just
dripping in. Thriving in. Yeah, it's good. So that was my hot take. I wanted to get your take on it.
Ah, I love it. 'Cause I think we're getting some really good, uh, paddlers here at the moment and, uh, if we have to steal them or we have to load the boats up, so be it. Borrowing them, Dougie. Oh, borrowing them. Oh, okay. Well, good. Anyway, that's it. Awesome. See you later. Bye-bye. See ya. Handy, another one done. Um, how's, how, what's your thoughts?
Whoo. I tell you what, the
newsletter's going out. If you guys haven't given us your email address yet, you'd better. You need to. Because we've dropped
another one just now. Exactly. So get on the website, subscribe, scroll down, do what you have to do. Like. Get on Spotify. I don't know if you- Thumbs up ... yeah, I don't know if you subscribe on Spotify, but if you're on Spotify, get on it and get- Tell you what-
those paddles ready ... to you viewers out there,
like, subscribe and get on us. All right, Handy, catch you
later. Bye for now. Bye. See ya.
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