For the first time since the establishment of IBCPC in 2010, the IBCPC Dragon Boat Festival will take place in the southern hemisphere in New Zealand.
Held every three to four years, the festival is at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge on 10-16 April.
An international non-competitive participatory event for breast cancer paddler teams who engage in Dragonboat activities as post breast cancer diagnosis rehabilitation.
Dragon boat paddling has become a rehabilitation therapy for tens of thousands of women, and men worldwide, who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The New Zealand 2023 Festival will involve a selection of teams from the current 240 IBCPC member teams, from 30 countries across all continents.
The festival will be governed by the Aotearoa Wahine Toa Ora Trust and sitting under the trust will be an organising committee chaired by Meri Gibson.
Working with her will be many experienced members of the New Zealand Dragon Boat Association on the technical management of the festival, members of Abreast of Life Dragon Boat team and members of other breast cancer teams in New Zealand to help with other aspects of the festival.
The New Zealand Festival will be a sporting event but above all a social occasion in which New Zealand will welcome 4000 to 5000 people from all over the world.
The participants are mainly women between the ages of 20 and 80 who will meet to take part in the exciting Dragon boat races, paddling together on the beautiful world-class facility at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge.
They will also be accompanied by their friends and families, and their faithful and enthusiastic supporters.
The week-long celebrations will culminate in three-days of intense activity, demonstrations, workshops and social events aimed at awareness and dialogue within the large international community of breast-cancer paddlers.
