New B.C.-made dragon boat to race in this year's competition

North America's biggest dragon boat festival in Vancouver willcelebrate its31st anniversary with a new lightweight dragon boatunveiled Thursday.

Thenew dragon boat was a year in the making from designto finished productand will take part in this year's competition from June 21-23, which is expected to have a record5,500 paddlers.

The demonstration of the new boat began with a race againstan older model in False Creek. To no one's surprise, thenew boat won.

It's madewithwestern red cedar from B.C. as well ashigh-tech materials that makeitlight and responsive on the water.

The new design was made possible by a job-skills program funded by the B.C. government, which gaveDragon Boat B.C. $288,000 totrain participantsto build both aprototype as well as the final full-scale dragon boat.

"It really did changemy life," says Angela Gleeson,one of the participants in the job skills program.She now works for Dragon Boat B.C. as a special projects coordinator.

Coun. Michael Wiebe attended the unveilingand recounted his experience of riding with hismom in an assisted dragon boat the morning after he was elected to Vancouver city council last fall.