Africa Day London Dragon Boat Race
Shout-Africa.com is organising a Dragon Boat Race on 25 May 2013 at a venue in London to be announced soon. The event will be a competitive social gathering of the many African communities and shall be opened by the Dragon Boat Race and will later proceed to a social gathering with catering provided by some of the African catering companies in the UK. Details of Official delegates attending the event will be announced in due course.
The theme for this year is to promote Free Media to Africa and we at Shout-Africa recognise and acknowledge the role that the media plays in promoting democracy, social and economical development within our communities hence we believe that it is high time we promote Free Media in Africa.
English: Dragon boat of the team Lapátolók on River Danube, Budapest, Hungary. 10th of July, 2010
Many of you might be wondering what a dragon boat race is : A dragon boat (also dragonboat) is a human-powered watercraft traditionally made in the Pearl River delta region of China‘s southern Guangdong Province out of teak wood to various designs and sizes. In other parts of China different woods are used to build these traditional watercraft. It is one of a family of Traditional Paddled Long Boats found throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Dragonboats are the basis of the team paddlingsport of dragon boat racing an amateur watersport which has its roots in an ancient folk ritual of contending villagers held over the past 2000 years throughout southern China. While ‘competition’ has taken place annually for more than 20 centuries as part of religious ceremonies and folk customs, dragon boat racing has emerged in modern times as an international sport, beginning in Hong Kong in 1976. But the history of dragon boats in competition reaches as far back as the same era as the original games of Olympia in ancient Greece. Both dragon boat racing and the ancient Olympiad included aspects of religious observances and community celebrations along with competition.
For competition events, dragon boats are generally rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails. At other times such as training the decorative regalia is usually removed, although the drum often remains aboard for practice by drummers.
Why have a dragon boat race?
We at Shout-Africa were wondering what kind of competition we can have outdoors that is not too complicated to understand or is long like a football game and can be enjoyed outside and we decided to come up with the Dragon Boat Race. Living in the United Kingdom and interacting with many people in the Diaspora we realise the healthy competitiveness that exist between us and there is no better way to take that energy to the water or maybe to the riverside to those of you cheering your country folks and then followed by our regular social gathering with a live African band playing in the background. Also there is no better day to do this in the Diaspora than on Africa Day which happens to fall on a Saturday of the long bank holiday weekend this year.
If you would like more information on sponsoring, advertising or participating on the Dragon Boat Race contact Misheck Mberi on AfricaDay@shout-africa.com or visit our facebook page to stay informed about the venue, times etc – https://www.facebook.com/AfricaDayLondonDragonBoatRace. Corporate sponsorship of the event, or a boat, etc are welcome – and note that there will be ample photo opportunities for Sponsor-branded dragon boats both shore-side and on the water (by arrangement from our Safety craft), the Engraved Trophy will also bear the main Sponsor’s name.
