Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival kicks off with cancer survivor showdown race

The annual Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival is almost here and it’s kicking off with an all access Friday featuring the Survivor Showdown.

On Friday, June 23, the first day of the festival begins with ‘Abreast In A Boat vs. Butts In A Boat’ – an evening challenge between prostrate and breast cancer survivors.

You can go along to the free event and cheer on these two amazing teams as they race to help raise awareness for their causes.

The ‘Barrier Free Canada Cup’ is also taking place on June 23 in partnership with the Rick Hansen Foundation. This race will see eight teams that make it their mission to engage people with challenges, paddle through False Creek to fundraise for their causes.

You can watch the adrenaline-filled race and see the winners cross the finish line at the Concord Pacific Fan Zone. Oh, and this race is on both water and land, so it’s certainly set to be entertaining. And to make it better, Concord Pacific will match pledges up to $5,000 for the team that raises the most for their charity.

A post shared by Dragon Boat Canada (@dragonboatcanada) on Jun 21, 2016 at 6:01pm PDT

Teams are supporting these wonderful causes: 

• Almost Canada & the Dragon Boat Canada U16/U18 National Team benefitting: Fei and Milton K. Wong Family Foundation (High Risk Youth Programs)
• Team 2 benefitting: BC Blind Sports
• Many in Motion benefitting: Rick Hansen Foundation 
• Conquering Waves benefitting: Open Door Group
• Something MS benefitting: Multiple Sclerosis
• O2P benefitting: Kidney Foundation of Canada
• Butts in a Boat benefitting: Prostate Cancer Foundation of BC
• Breast Cancer Survivor Team benefitting: Abreast in a Boat

The Concord Pacific Dragon Boat Festival will be taking place throughout Friday June 23 to Sunday, June 25, at Concord Pacific Place.

Over the weekend, you can check out a ton of cool things like live music performances, the European-style Portobello West market, plus a wide range of entertaining championship races.

This is one summer festival in Vancouver you don’t want to miss, so make sure to arrive early and get the best viewpoint for race-watching.