Dragon Boat Invitational brings international rowers to Suzhou Creek
The 20th Shanghai Suzhou Creek Dragon Boat Invitational tournament will be held this weekend, bringing together more than 700 rowers in 36 dragon boat teams from China and abroad, including from France and Russia.
The rowers and teams will gather at the Mengqing Garden section of Suzhou Creek to compete in four categories – elite, college, international, and general public.
The tournament is scheduled for June 1 and 2.
In terms of competition format, the elite group will compete in 100-meter and 200-meter straight races in 22-person dragon boats. The college group will compete in 200m straight races in 22-person boats.
The international group will compete in 200m straight races in 12-person boats, and the general public group will compete in 200m straight races in 12-person boats.
Six teams from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Beihua University, Liaocheng University, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai Ocean University, and Shanghai Lixin College of Accounting and Finance will participate in the college group competition.
Rowers will compete at the Mengqing Garden section of Suzhou Creek in Putuo District.
Local expat teams will take part in the international group competitions.
An Colombian engineer, known as Madi, is an expat rower based in Shanghai who first participated in the tournament in 2018.
"I was attracted by China's dragon boat culture at first, and have become more and more interested in the sport," Madi said.
The competition format is introduced.
"A lot of expats are joining our team these years, and we often train together," he said. "We are targeting the championship this year, although we have heard that there are some competitive teams from overseas."
Launched in 2001, the tournament is jointly organized by the Shanghai Sports Federation and the Putuo District government. With teams from overseas involved since 2009, the tournament has grown into an iconic traditional activity of the Dragon Boat Festival.
