ICF Dragon Boat Commission activities

1. The ICF Dragon Boat World Championships site visit in Puerto Princesa, Philippines

The ICF Dragon Boat Commission had a venue inspection and technical meeting from March 7 to 9 in which all operational and logistical issues were finalised. The hosting agreement was signed by Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Rodriguez Bayron and ICF President Thomas Konietzko at the Mayor’s Office. The event will take place from October 30 to November 3.

2. The ICF Board of Director Meeting, London, England

There was a very exciting message given by Mr Konietzko that BYD was interested in a global cooperation with ICF and that they primarily want to promote Dragon Boat with their commitment. The more challenging information for the ICF Dragon Boat Commission was the suggestion from Mr Konietzko to check whether it would be possible to integrate a few Dragon Boat races into the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in 2025 and include them in the live broadcast. ICF Canoe Sprint Committee Chair Toshi Furuya and I had a brief discussion on this issue afterwards and the response was positive.

3. Venue inspection for Chengdu 2025

During the 2025 World Games, Dragon Boat and Canoe Marathon competition will be held together at Xinglong Lake Wetland Park, Tianfu New Area, Chengdu on August 9 and 10. A technical meeting and site visit was held on April 26 in which we had a chance to express physically the requirements of the race course as well as the function posts. Lists of competition-specific equipment and function rooms were submitted to TWG2025 office to follow up.

4. ICF Dragon Boat Competition rules seminar

The seminar and examination will be conducted by Ulrike Schreck and Martin Marinov in Ruse, Bulgaria this month during the National Dragon Boat Competition organised by the Bulgarian Canoe Federation. This is also a preparation for the 2025 ICF Dragon Boat Club Crew World Championships, scheduled to be held in Ruse from July 17 to 20 July 2025.

By Waihung Luk, Chair of the ICF Dragon Boat Commission