With a time of 2:04, Victoria’s own Gorging Dragons won the Platinum Championship Final on Sunday, beating out their nearest competition from Portland by 3.64 seconds.
While Portland’s mixed Firedragons team missed first place, its women’s team took the platinum-championship gold with 2:31.35.
“It was actually a really fabulous three-day event this year,” said 2011 Canada Dry Victoria Dragon Boat Festival society chair Mark Grey-Dreaper. While final fundraising tallies aren’t in, pledges from paddlers alone reached $57,000, outstripping last year’s total amount raised for the B.C. Cancer Foundation. The figure doesn’t include proceeds from lantern sales.
Another Victoria team shone for their fundraising abilities. Paddlers of the Fifth Moon, whose members include B.C. Cancer Agency researcher Katy Milne, raised $22,000.
In total, 76 teams raced the 500-metre stretch across the Inner Harbour, of which two-thirds were from out of town.
The North Breast Passage team from Prince George won the Breast Cancer Survivors’ Challenge with a time of 2:46.42.
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