The Harrison Paddling Club (formerly called the Fraser Valley Paddling Club), a non-profit Society established in 2001, is 100% volunteer based. The Society is committed to assisting and overseeing activities which encourage, promote and develop teams within the Fraser Valley through Dragon Boat and OC programs.
Our efforts are to help any and all individuals to develop new skills, create and strengthen friendships, encourage sportsmanship, embrace healthy competition and promote good health through active participation in these water sports.
Our humble beginnings started with a handful of individuals in the basement of a local church learning to paddle by sitting on chairs lined up 2 per row, using brooms as paddles and trying to mimic the paddle movement. Our membership has now grown to over 140 members, ages 13 to 65 and beyond, featuring 6 teams, utilizing 7 different boats to practice and race in dragon boat and outrigger events.
HPC has always called Harrison Hot Springs home and we are very fortunate and blessed to be able to paddle in such an incredible place. We promote our sport and where we paddle throughout the paddling season with our special events. The Harrison Dragon Boat Regatta, Battle of the Paddles, Echo Island Challenge and our Open Paddles allow us to share our sport with people from all over BC and Washington State.
We also like to give back to our community by promoting food drives at our events to help support the Agassiz Harrison Community Services food bank. We offer our services to special needs groups such as the local school for the visually impaired, to help get their students out of the class room and into a boat for an afternoon of paddling.
The club also believes in the power of sport for the youth in our communities. FVDBC fundraises throughout the year so we can offer our Junior Program fee of charge to all that want to try. This includes membership, transportation, equipment and regatta fees. In addition to the free Junior Program we have setup a Bursary Program to help our Junior paddlers with their education once they graduate from high school.
Come join a club that understands the power of a strong community. Belong to a club that promotes sportsmanship, friendship and healthy competition. Support a club that believes in a positive and safe paddling environment. Be part of one of the fastest growing water sports in the world.
HISTORY
In the winter of 2001, a small group gathered at Younie’s restaurant in Chilliwack to talk about forming a dragon boat team. Inspired by Lisa Moran and Cheryl McKenna, who were already familiar with the sport, this small group went on to form the nucleus of the first Fraser Valley dragon boat team. New recruits were told that it was only a “two minute race”.
Lacking boats and paddles, the group practiced in the local United Church hall. Brooms and chairs substituted for paddles and boats. When the paddling season got under way in June, the Water Warriors entered the Alcan regatta in Vancouver, the first for the team. The thrill of the race was enough for everyone, and all but three team members left the event without realizing that they had actually won bronze in their division’s final. This was the beginning of the Fraser Valley Dragon Boat club.
By the end of the first year the core group was hooked. A recruitment meeting in February 2002 drew a large crowd and four more teams were formed. The Dragonfliers, Spirit Abreast, Trojan Warriors and Jolly Miller Strokers joined the Water Warriors for the 2002 season.
A dragon boat was rented and brought to Harrison Lake where Jim Killer of Killer’s Cove Marina offered dock space and a small floating club house. A registered society was formed and, in the following year, two boats were purchased. The local Chilliwack Lions Club donated $3,000 to purchase club life jackets and paddles for one boat while club member Manfred Preuss developed an adopt-a-paddle campaign where local businesses could help with the purchase of additional paddles.
The two boats gave the club the flexibility that was needed to expand and accommodate the practice schedules for the teams.
From those initial years, teams have come and gone. By 2008, there were four teams associated with the now officially named Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Club. The Thunder Strokers, one of the founding teams, The Pirates, Crusaders and Mavericks formed the 2008 version of the club. 2009 saw the formation of the Club’s first junior team – the Draconas. Kids from Hope, Agassiz and Rosedale/Chilliwack area came together to have fun and learn about Dragon Boating. They raced in three events showing very good results.
In 2005, the club introduced a new race format, the community challenge. Fraser Valley companies were invited to form teams and, with four practices under their paddles, compete with the other company teams. The event proved to be highly successful, as a fundraiser for the club, and as way for recruiting new paddlers.
The club began organizing an annual regatta in 2004. For the first couple of years club members volunteered to put together the event. Who cannot forget 2007 when a steady cold rain resulted in a very long day for the volunteers and a few unhappy racers? By 2008 members agreed that help was needed and a partnership between the club and Water’s Edge was developed. This partnership successfully ran the event until 2011.