IslandBreaststrokersHistory
Founder:MarjorieWoodroffe
(Written in 2002)
“But you don’t even like being on the water!” was the immediate response from a long-time friend in Prince George when I shared the experience I had had watching the “Abreast in a Boat” team paddle in Victoria and my idea/dream --- that we could do it too! Little did she know!
I returned to Victoria with the dream intact and the first thing I did was to mention it at a meeting of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The look on the chairperson’s face said it all, “Oh, no! More work for the few who are already over-burdened!” I immediately assured her that I did not see this as a CBCF project. I just wanted to put the word out to see if there was enough interest.
Paula MacNaughton was at that meeting and she right away said that she would like to do it. I had not been home long that evening when Paula called to say that she already had some friends who were keen to join us as supporters.
The idea of having “survivors and supporters” on the first team came from the realization that Victoria was a much smaller catchment area than Vancouver and so it might be more difficult (at least for the first year) to attract enough survivors to make up a team.
My next step was to contact a few women I knew who had had breast cancer to see if they were interested. Jennifer Verral and Jan Saunders (De Long) were two of the first to respond.
I then drew up a poster by hand (!) and delivered copies to the Cancer Clinic, Cancer Lodge, mammography units, libraries and recreation centres.
The first meeting was held in a room at St. Matthias Church in October 1996. The response was very encouraging with 20-30 women at that meeting. I presented a list of ten things I felt we needed to discuss to see if this dream, in fact, could become a reality.
In the meantime I was starting to make contact with some of the key people involved in the development of the “Abreast in a Boat” team (Vancouver), including Diana Jesperson (Dr. Don Mackenzie’s research assistant) and Susan Harris.
After one more meeting at St. Matthias Church we moved to the Board Room at the Eric Martin Pavilion, a much larger room. this is where we met once a month throughout our “gestation” period.
One of the things that surprised me, after the notices went up, was the response from Up-Island! This had not occurred to me and, in fact, when I had originally begun to think of a name for the team, “Abreast in Victoria” had come to mind! It was exciting that women came from Shawnigan Lake, Duncan and even Lake Cowichan!
Some of the items on that original list were T-shirt colour, logo and a name, but the #1 issue, if we were ever going to do this crazy thing, was our access to a boat and a coach.
Oh my! What a struggle that was! It’s hard to believe now, when you see all the boats down at “our” dock, but we did not get into a boat that first year until July 9th, and that Victoria Dragon Boat Festival was on August 16/17th! (This was in 1997.)
One day that fall I met Silken Laumann in the Bombay Company. I introduced myself and explained our dilemma. Marilyn Copland was with her and she immediately said that the newly formed Gorge Rowing Club was planning to get some dragon boats. So Silken took my phone number and a few weeks later I received a call from her husband John Wallace. Many phone calls and meetings later after some unfortunate misunderstandings and our determination to race in the Victoria Festival that year, we actually joined the Victoria Canoe and Kayak Club and were coached by Dave Hill in their dragon boat. His goal that year was to get us to the start line and, hopefully, the finish line. Technique would come later!
On January 30th 1997 I was invited by “Abreast in a Boat” to a meeting in Vancouver. It was their introductory meeting for women interested in forming a second boat. It was very inspiring for me to meet these women and to hear Dr. Mackenzie and others speak about their programme. They were very open and generous in their support of us, and I came away with their training manual and other helpful hints. I must admit thought, I was very envious of the programme that was already in place and the community support they had, especially from UBC.
However, when I look back at our first year, I think we can all be very proud of how much we accomplished in our small group.
We also needed a logo. Word went out and submissions were voted on by the team. The design by Sara Chu, and RN at Hospice was chosen, with some modifications made by Deanne Young. Deanne was one of our supporters and a close friend of Paula Macnaughton. The original design was black on white and when T-shirt colours were considered it was felt that the black on the white was so effective that we could go with the white T-shirts. Long sleeves were also chosen the first year, a recommendation from “Abreast in a Boat”.
Our name, “Island Breaststrokers” was chosen by vote from a long list of suggestions, acknowledging that we were indeed an “Island” team.
Fundraising was a concern for us as we did not want anyone to feel excluded because of financial concerns. We spread the work and the Up-Island members in particular were very successful in garnering donations for us.
One idea was to sell T-shirts. The introduction of colour to our logo was a great success. the shirts sold very well at the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival. Ignorance is bliss sometimes! We did not know that we were not supposed to be selling anything there!
And so August 16th arrived and we were so excited! The boats were different from the one we had trained in. In our very first race the steersperson had trouble steering and as we approached the finish line we veered off towards the Undersea Gardens. We had to go around in a circle to finish the race, but even then we did not place last as two other boats had collided and one was penalized!
The “Abreast in a Boat” teams (2) came over and so the first ever “Breast Cancer Challenge” race was held in Victoria that year. We did our warm-up together and the sense of support and camaraderie was palpable.
Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for had arrived and 3 boats of breast cancer survivors (and our supporters) raced to the finish line. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was in tears even before we crossed that line. The roar of the crowd and the realization that there were almost 60 women who had had breast cancer in those boats were really quite overwhelming.
Before the Festival I had been asked by the organizers if there was anything special we would like to have put on the back of the medals that were being made for this particular race. I told them I would ask the team. As an aside, I commented that, for me, I was sure that when we crossed the finish line the first time all I would think was “We did it!!”. The never got back to me, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw the medals for the first time. Guess what was inscribed on the back? --- And it continues to this day!
We have just finished our 5th season of competing in dragon boat festivals. How far we have come! I am sure I have left out many things – already I think of our press coverage, the physicians who gave us their support (and Advil), our fund-raising portfolio, the list goes on.
We could not have done it without our “supporters” who paddled with us --- daughters, friends and a sister. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Here’s to the next 5 years! “Paddles Up” and “Take her away”!
Submitted in haste and with much love,
Marjorie Woodroffe
PS Four women from the very first team are still on board today: Angeline, Jennifer V., Kaethe and Marjorie W.
The power of Dragons...
COURAGE, ENTHUSIASM, TENACITY, AND PERSISTENCE
