Foothills paddling team golden at dragon boat festival

An Okotoks and area paddling team caught fire to win a gold medal at the Calgary Dragon Boat Festival.

Team Miles, a group of ladies that has been racing together for seven years, won the women’s B Hong Kong Cup final at the festival earlier this month.

“Our team started out as a group of local friends who all took Muay Thai classes from Mike Miles at the Davisburg Community Association," captain Michelle Balog said in reference to the team name.

The women wanted to start an activity together and began paddling as it allowed a large group to get involved. According to Balog, paddling used the same muscle groups as Muay Thai.

“We just thought we would try it and when we got in the boat in the first year, we did really well," she said. "It was kind of shocking, we thought we'd be dead last and we were actually placed in a final.

"So we realized that we're actually prepared because of our Muay Thai training to physically handle this kind of form of paddling."

The boat consists of 20 paddlers, a drummer at the front and a steerer at the back. The paddlers set the pace for the team, the drummer leads the paddlers throughout the race with a drum beat while the steerer controls the direction of the boat. 

“We all have to follow each other in time, that's the hardest part of the whole thing," Balog said. "So when you're at the back of the boat, you have to look up at the front of the boat and follow the top hand of the paddlers in front of you, and try to drive your paddle down into the water at the same time.

“It's fun. We've been together, like I say, for seven years, and everybody gets along really well. It's, you know, with 20 women, you have different personalities coming through, but somehow we managed to still, you know, get along and cooperate and really have a lot of fun. We support each other."

The team won a silver medal in at the dragon boat festival in Lethbridge earlier this summer.

“It's not so much about winning, it's more about, you know, being together and helping each other out," Balog said. "And being a team and in every sense of the word. And everybody really gives it their all, everybody gives 110 per cent."