- June 15, 2025
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Lakewood Ranch resident Allyson Race received a phone call earlier this year that brought her to tears.
Team USA Dragon Boat Coach Angela Long was on the other end of that call, informing Race that she had been selected to be a part of the inaugural Team USA Breast Cancer Paddlers.
Race and her teammates will compete along with 22 other paddlers from Nathan Benderson Park at the 17th International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, from July 14-20.
Paddlers from Lakewood Ranch and Bradenton include Race, Teri Mason, Carol Tucker, Amy Harris, Laura Richards, Maybe Sullivan, Tim DiMenna and Ty Brewer. Sarasota paddlers are Gina Toynton, Duneska Grant, Kim Sheffield, Beth Turconi, Don Bickel and Brian Long.
For many paddlers like Race, the chance to compete on a world stage is exciting, but it isn’t the primary motivation for competing in dragon boat races.
Race competed in the 14th IDBF Club Crew World Championships in Ravenna, Italy in 2024, but decided to take some time off from the sport afterward.
That didn’t last long.
Teammates texted her to see how she was doing, and after some time, she found herself back in a dragon boat at Nathan Benderson Park.
“It was pulling at my heart,” Race said. “I think it was the relationships we have on the team, but also the love of the sport. If you love a sport, I don’t care what age you are, it draws you to it. I ran in my 30s and I still run today. The 70-year-olds out here are definitely inspiring.”
Newcomers to the sport of dragon boat paddling have their fortitude tested quickly.
A new paddler must learn how to paddle in sync to the beat of a drum alongside their teammates. If the timing is off, paddles will collide, water will splash onto the boat, and maximum speed will be impossible to reach.
The elements — from heat and humidity to foggy mornings — create an adjustment period as well.
That’s not even to mention the fact that alligators are lurking underneath the surface of the water.
“Your hand goes in the water when you paddle, so every time I’m like, ‘Please don’t eat me,’ " said Team USA dragon boat paddler Maybe Sullivan. “My coach will say, ‘Put your leg in the water,’ and I’m like, ‘No way.’”
Sullivan had to overcome more than just her fear of alligators to get back in a boat again.
Back in 2016, she was aboard a commercial fishing boat hauling 180,000 pounds of salmon in the Bering Sea when a storm capsized the boat.
Luckily, Sullivan’s son came to the rescue in his boat, but the memory stuck with her.
“I never thought I was going to be in the water again, and now I’m here,” Sullivan said.
To qualify for Team USA, paddlers had to be tested in time trials using tandem outrigger boats in which one person steered the boat while the other paddled.
Those times were measured along with rowing erg results to evaluate both the speed and power of the paddler.
Paddlers such as Race and Sullivan have already made the most out of their experience, but winning gold would make that journey even sweeter, and Team USA has a strong history of winning.
Team USA brought home 24 gold medals, 39 silver medals and 19 bronze medals from the 16th IDBF World Championships in Thailand.
There isn’t any history to lean back on for the Breast Cancer Paddlers because this year will be the debut of the division at the IDBF World Championships, but optimism abounds nonetheless.
“They’re the ones paving the way,” Long said of her paddlers. “They’re trying this division out and seeing how it works. I know it’s going to be successful. They already have seven countries that are going to be participating, so they’ve got a good turnout. It’s going to be great.”
