For the opening parade, Dragon Boat Atlanta pulled out all the stops. Teammate Jayne Berry, far left, made sets of butterfly wings for participants and paddlers.
Two mother-and-daughter pairs, four sets of sisters, paddlers from across the US from Georgia to Oregon and five team members from Ireland. Some had never met each other. Two discovered a quarter of the way around the globe, they were related.
Members of Dragon Boat Atlanta were part of a 30-member group of paddlers, supporters and family members who raised their own funds to travel to France. It was the fifth ICBPCP (International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission) global Dragon Boat Festival, a week filled with reconnecting with friends, making new friends, imparting the joys and the support of shared experiences.
Dragon Boat Atlanta team members came together from the hinterlands: Five from Oregon, five from Ireland, 10 from Atlanta, 1 from Florida and 1 from New Hampshire. Although they would be paddling together for the first time as a full team of 22 at the multi-day festival, that didn’t stop Dragon Boat Atlanta from immediately bonding like sisters.
“We only really had one day to practice together before the festival began,” said Jayne Berry from Gainesville and long-time member of Dragon Boat Atlanta. “But we had been in contact to get to know each other in the months leading up to France. It helped that we had sisters, mom/daughter paddlers and two sets of five paddlers each from Ireland and Oregon who knew each other. All of us, well most of us, had been paddling Dragon Boat for quite a while. For those who were new, the others took them under their wings. It all worked out.”
Dragon Boat Atlanta, the only team of breast cancer survivors based in Georgia, has been represented in some way in each of the five international Dragon Boat festivals.
Kathy Cunningham and Nancy Crawford, long-time members of Dragon Boat Atlanta, traveled to the previous four International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission Dragon Boat Festivals.
Today there are more than 20,000 breast cancer dragon boat paddlers worldwide and the competitive spirit of this community reached a milestone in 2025.
“The International Dragon Boat Federation Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, included a breast cancer survivor division for the very first time,” Cunningham said. “We are incredibly proud that our own Jayne Berry competed with Team USA.”
That powerful spirit led to the 2026 IBCPC dragon boat festival last month in France.
“Dragon Boat Atlanta paddlers were joined by BCS paddlers from Oregon, Ireland, New Hampshire and Florida – because dragon boating has a wonderful way of turning strangers from around the world into teammates and lifelong friends,” she said. “I had the distinct privilege of coaching this amazing group of strong, resilient warriors and proving together, that life after breast cancer can still be powerful, adventurous and full of joy.”
Cunningham was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2003.
“I found the silver lining to my devastating diagnosis through dragon boat paddling,” she said. “Truthfully, if I had not had breast cancer, it is extremely unlikely that I would know about this amazing sport – dragon boating.
“Since my diagnosis, I have met so many wonderful, strong women and my dragon boat paddling has taken me to Canada, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Ireland! Because that is what dragon boating is really about – Strength, Survival. Sisterhood.”
Dragon Boat Atlanta is Georgia’s only breast cancer awareness dragon boat team in the state.
“We see ourselves as both a competitive racing squad and a floating support network for survivors and supporters,” Cunningham said. “Participation with Dragon Boat Atlanta is open and we’re always seeking new participants. There’s such a sisterhood and strong bond of friendship.”
For more info about Dragon Boat Atlanta or to help with sponsorships, visit dragonboatatlanta.us.
Photo: courtesy Dragon Boat Atlanta
Overcoming statistics through sisterhood
Getting in the spirit: Throughout the festival, brightly dressed team members showed their spirit. This participant helped wave a large red paper dragon, a familiar symbol at Dragon Boat events around the world.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the US other than skin cancer.
Even with early detection, advancements in diagnostic technology and treatment options, more than 320,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2026. And 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes. Men are not immune; statistics show that 1 in 833 men will also receive a breast cancer diagnosis in their lifetimes.
Currently there are more than 4 million breast cancers in the US. The highest risk of recurrence usually happens in the first few years after treatment and decreases over time.
This month you’ll see breast cancer patients, survivors, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, parents and children wearing pink ribbons to raise awareness of the importance of regular breast self-examinations and mammograms.
Begun in the mid-1990s in Canada, the sport of Breast Cancer Dragon Boat paddling has spread throughout the world. From attending dragon boat races and festivals, these cancer survivors, family and friends bring attention to the strength of having survived cancer and the closeness that Dragon Boat participation builds instantly among former strangers.
In Atlanta, Dragon Boat Atlanta’s dedicated team members practice once a week at the Lake Lanier Olympic Venue. With a team of 20 paddlers, a drummer and a steerperson, team members paddle and travel across North America for festivals celebrating the friendships, sisterhood and camaraderie of common experience and a deep caring for each other.
Last August 24-30, members of Dragon Boat Atlanta, supporters, family and friends traveled to Aix-les-Bains, France on Lac du Bourget, a glacier lake. They joined 4,600 participants from 25 countries who paddled in 320 teams for the fifth ICBPCP (International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission) global Dragon Boat Festival.
For a few it was becoming a pilgrimage of sorts, meeting up with other breast cancer survivors to participate in dragon boat events in places like Canada, Australia, Florida, Italy, New Zealand and this year France. Returnees greeted each other like long-lost friends.
Photo: courtesy IBC France
