|
|
|
|||||
Survivors fire up support in dragon boats
Ruth Stevens Princeton NJ -- A bout with breast cancer three years ago left Baru Saul feeling like she needed an outlet. "I was looking for something I wasn't really sure what it was," said Saul, an office coordinator in Princeton's Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering. "I was attending a support group sporadically, but I felt like I needed something more."
Dragon boats vary in size from 20 feet to 120 feet with six to 60 paddlers. In the United States, most boats are 40 feet long and weigh 600 pounds. U.S. crews consist of 20 paddlers sitting two abreast, a steer person and a drummer who sits at the head of the boat and beats out a paddling rhythm. Depending on the competition, paddlers can hit the water between 80 and 100 times per minute and finish a quarter-mile race in under three minutes. The boats are named for the dragon heads and tails that adorn the vessels during races. The sport originated in China more than 2,000 years ago, and its popularity has spread around the world. In 1996, the first team consisting of breast cancer survivors was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, site of one of the world's largest dragon boat races. The team trained under the supervision of a sports medicine physician who questioned the advice given to many breast cancer survivors at the time: to limit activities involving the upper body. He designed an exercise program to help the survivors avoid potential problems with lymphedema swollen arms and legs that people experience when their lymph systems are damaged by lymph node removal, radiation treatments or trauma and the musculoskeletal problems associated with unaccustomed exercise. The team successfully completed its first race, and now there are some 60 breast cancer survivor teams in Canada. Saul said that the group she has joined is only the fifth breast cancer survivor team in the United States. She learned of the group, which calls itself the Princeton Dragoneers, through the Breast Cancer Resource Center at the Princeton YWCA. Jeanie Haas, president of the team, was a member of an AT&T/Lucent dragon boat team for five years until her diagnosis with breast cancer last year. "I thought my career with dragon boat racing was done," she said. Then she attended a dragon boat race in Philadelphia last year and noticed crews of breast cancer survivors. So she decided to start her own team of survivors in Princeton. Saul, who serves as treasurer of the Dragoneers, said there currently are 25 members, but there is room for more. "There are no physical requirements you just have to be a survivor," said Saul, noting that she had worked out at the gym and walked but never undertaken this level of physical activity. "Many women come to it having done nothing. Many of us have upper body limitations. We just want people who have an interest in encouraging spirit, and want to get together and be outside." The team will race in the recreational division of the competitions it enters, she said, "so we're not trying to compete with the real athletes." She and the others have been training by working out and attending a rowing clinic. They will take to the water for the first time later this month in Parsippany in a boat loaned to them by the New Jersey Dragon Boat Club. The Dragoneers are working to raise the $17,000 needed to purchase their own boat and are looking for a place on the water near Princeton to moor the boat. They also need funds for a trailer, uniforms, paddles and life jackets. The Dragoneers will staff a booth at Princeton's Communiversity celebration Saturday, April 27, to raise awareness for their cause. In the meantime, team members are joining up with other dragon boat racers to gain experience. Two are heading for China at the end of this month, and Saul will be competing in Toronto in June with the New Jersey Dragon Boat Club. She and six others plan to go to Rome in September for the world championships with members of Hope Afloat, a Philadelphia- based survivors team. The Dragoneers also plan to play host to a breast cancer survivor race at the end of September at Mercer County Park. While the physical work preparing for the racing season has been invigorating, Saul said the friendships she's developed through the team are even more important. "It's been great," she said. "There is a lot of camaraderie." Anyone interested in joining or supporting the Princeton Dragoneers may contact Saul at (215) 369-0566 or baru@princeton.edu. |
April 22, 2002 Contents Page one Inside Sections
Editor: Ruth Stevens |
|||||
