The Paddle For Life dragon boat races on the Lake River in Ridgefield show off the power and partnership of the paddle teams, but also highlight the grit and determination of cancer survivors.
The Paddle For Life dragon boating competition was created to support women in Clark County who have experienced breast cancer.
Tamara Greenwell, a breast cancer survivor and paddler for the Vancouver-based Catch-22 Ospreys dragon boat squad, shared her story of how dragon boating has helped her through the battle of breast cancer.
The Paddle for Life event on Saturday, Aug. 2, also marked four years since her double mastectomy.
“They found the cancer had spread, so then I had 16 rounds of chemo and 30 rounds of radiation and then more surgeries,” Greenwell said. “But coming out of radiation, a woman who I was going to for an online support group during COVID, was like, ‘Oh, you know, there’s some breast cancer survivors who do this dragon boating.’ And I’m always interested in it, but I’m like, ‘Oh, it just feels like a lot right now.’ But, I finally came out on the boat and the minute I felt the power of 19 people and me all paddling in the same direction, I was like, ‘Sign me up coach.’”
The Paddle For Life dragon boat race featured six metal dragon boats with numerous teams climbing aboard to race it out in two boat sprints upstream of 250 meters. The spirits were high among every team and spectator during the paddle races.
Greenwell explained that one in seven women in the Pacific Northwest will end up with breast cancer and, overall, one in three Americans will experience cancer.
“I think everybody either knows someone who’s had breast cancer or has a family member who’s experienced it,” she said. “So it touches so many lives, but to have a community like this, you know, with how many hundreds of people spilling out throughout Ridgefield to support each other and compete, is really inspiring and a helpful thing for people who've experience it.”
Greenwell said the event included four teams of all breast cancer survivors and two all-cancer survivors from the Catch-22 team based at the Vancouver Lake Aquatic Center. To learn more about the Catch-22 dragon boat team, visit their Facebook page, Vancouver Lake Dragon Boating: Catch-22.
“I love the community, the camaraderie,” Greenwell said, adding that the community aspect has helped with deciding medications based on other’s experiences with it. “Coming out of radiation and, you know, many, many months of trauma to my body, and having a sport where I could paddle hard and win and feel successful and feel my body strengthening again coming out of cancer, it’s really hard to describe how incredibly impactful that is.”
During an intense paddle, Greenwell said she can feel the workout in her legs, core and definitely her arms.
“When we’re on the water, it’s competition time, like, we’re out to win, and every boat is out to win,” she said. “But the minute you come off the water, our team’s giving high fives to the other teams, and it’s just a big group of people who come together to support each other.”
