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diversions
Long Beach plays
host to the Dragon
By Larry W. Brunson,
Jr.
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The City of Long
Beach welcomed the World Cup Dragon Boat Races to Marine Stadium
on July 28 and 29, bringing over 72 racing teams from all
over the world including China, Japan, the Philippines and
Canada.
This was the fifth
year the World Cup Dragon Boat Races have taken place in Long
Beach, and five divisions of teams competed as they joined
a tradition of over 2000 years of dragon boat racing, according
to Dr. Howard Chen, president of the International Culture
Exchange Association.
According to Chen,
dragon boat races started 2000 years ago in China and Japan,
and have taken place in the United States for about 50 years.
Currently in California,
San Francisco and Long Beach are the only cities that have
dragon boat races. Four races a year take place in San
Francisco and one a year in Long Beach, but Chen says the
ICEA is working on having more races in Long Beach because
the community has been so supportive.
"You can meet
a lot of friends here and this sport is really a community
sport," Chen said. "Everyone mixes together
and people are able to learn from each other's culture."
At last weekend's
races, there were many sponsors and a great deal of community
support. According to Chen, this was the largest crowd and
largest number of sponsors they have ever had in Long Beach.
Over 30 sponsors
came out to support the races including KNBC, Toyota, Costco
Wholesale, Pacific Bell, and the Taiwan Visitor Association.
"When people
heard about this," Chen said, "they just came in
to sponsor, like KNBC,"
Sponsor kits were
sent out into the Long Beach community, and there was an overwhelming
amount of support, according to James Sek, general secretary
of the ICEA.
Sek, who has been
involved with the races for six years, said that all of the
teams involved in the races must go through a pre-qualification
process before they are selected to participate in the races.
"From there,
they are placed into the five different divisions that are
here today," Sek said.
Many of the competitors
were preparing for their races by running up and down the
beach or other exercises to prepare, but some of the competitors
were relaxing and didn't appear nervous about the coming events.
"Nobody's
really out here to get first place," said Mike Labrada,
member of the ACCA team of Anaheim. "Everyone's here
to have fun and to get together. It's like a big barbecue,
and it's only two days, so my friends and I decided to come
out.
"I have been
working out and watching my diet for the last couple of days."
Other competitors
were focused as they prepared for their upcoming races.
The Lord of Universe Church of Rosemead spent their last few
minutes warming up and remembering why they were participating
in the day's events.
"Actually,
this is a Chinese tradition," said Peter Lin, member
of the Lord of Universe Church team, "and there is a
person from ancient times [who] died in the river while racing
a dragon boat, so we race in honor of him. A month ago, we
[would] go every Sunday to practice rowing."
As the teams were
preparing for their races, event volunteers were on hand to
assist the teams by directing them to their boats. Henry
Wu, one of the volunteers, had the same enthusiasm as the
competitors when it came to the races.
"[The competitors]
can enjoy the different races," Wu said. "It's a
very good activity especially for the people in the stands
and its such a large crowd this year."
Adam Moore, a spectator
at the event, said that he was happy to be a part of such
a great cultural event.
"I've come
here for three years now, and the crowds get bigger and bigger
and more diverse each year," Moore said.
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