On Sunday, 10 November, the Gauteng Dragon Boat Association (GDBA) hosted their annual Chinese Dragon Boat Festival at Florida Lake.
Back in 1999 at Bruma Lake, the first dragon boat race, which introduced dragon boat racing to the community, took place, and this year, they celebrated the 20th anniversary of dragon boat racing in Gauteng.
The day kicked off with traditional drums accompanying dancers performing the traditional Lion Dance. This was followed by the Eyeing of the Dragon Ceremony, whereafter the councillor for ward 84, Gert Niemand; Beulah Cloete (GDBA Chairperson); ex-MP Sherry Chen, (Representative of the Taipei Liaisons Office in South Africa); Mr Chou, (President of SADBA), and Vincent Lin took to the waters for the Rose Ceremony. This ceremony is performed to cleanse the lake, and is believed to chase all the bad in the water away. Another boat went out for the memorial paddle that was done by the Florida team. They did a salute, followed by tossing roses into the lake in remembrance of Gino Feng, the first chairman of GDBA, who passed away in 2007.
Participants were not deterred by the gloomy weather and the race started in spectacular fashion. In the Chinese Race Division, Taiwanese Traditional took first place, Chung Wah came in second and ATCC came third. In the Premier B division, Zandspruit Youth ended in first place, with Kainos (East Rand) second and Mad Waves (Sandton) third.
Due to the heavy weather conditions, the Premier A division race, which included Florida Legends, CoJ Region D, EMS cadets, EMS Explorers, Gliders, and CoJ Region G, had to be postponed to December.
Watch here:
