Montreal International Dragon Boat Challenge – July 17 & 18 2026
First of all: apologies! We broke tradition and posted this article well after the races had finished. Our only excuse is…that we’re on vacation and were stuffing our bellies all this time. No time to type. Just eat.
So, back to business. Tribal Maui found themselves in Montreal this weekend to compete in the Montreal International Dragon Boat Challenge slash CanAm Club Crew Championships at Parc Jean Drapeau. What a trip to make for your sport! 270 Teams, thousands of athletes and heaps of spectators landed here in Quebec at this 4-day event. Maui was only required to participate during 2 days though, for all the usual races: 200m, 500m & 2K.
The weather was great on day one, and not so great on day two…but that’s pretty typical here in Montreal. Nothing horrible though, just a lil’ bit of rain. The Bassin Olympique is an inheritance from the 1976 Olympics here in Montreal, and is the absolute perfect venue for dragon boat racing, and any other rowing sports for that matter. We found ourselves perched up in the bleachers with a great view of the basin and boats.
There were both small boats (10 paddlers) and normal boats at this competition. The boats themselves were of a slightly different design than usual, which translated in them being a little ‘wobbly’ and prone to flipping over, which did happen in one of the 2K races (another team though). But they were fast, and so was the team!
The schedule wasn’t as grueling as I initially anticipated, with usually some time to recuperate between races, and on Saturday even a block of a few hours – which was the perfect opportunity to go back to the hotel and get some rest before the 2K event.
Even though no medals were earned this time around, the team did equal and improve on their personal bests at all of their races! I’d say that’s a fantastic result! Here’s how they did: 200m – best season time of 51.27 in Montreal, 500m – prelim then final were each best times in Montreal, 2K – best time ever of 10:22.18, even including a penalty of 10 seconds. Just awesome.
The team spent some time outside of the races exploring Montreal and enjoying dinners together as well as playing games at Prison Break and some late night victory-boozing. Because, duh! They also made some interesting contacts with a possible surprise later this summer, so stay tuned to find out!
Day one, let’s go! 
Officially Licenced Dragon Boat Paddler here in Montreal 
The long walk to the venue 
Monsieur Michel makes a mean coffee 
We were early enough to see the boats being put to water 
Our spot on top of the stands 
What a view! 
And off they go! 
Some food options on Friday, plenty more joined on Saturday 
Sleek design, I must say 
Iced lattes, yum 
No lining up this time but official starting grids with someone holding the boats until the start signal! Very fancy 🙂 
The competition was so strong this weekend! 
But the team’s form looked so good! 
Happy team 
Day two Timmy’s start 
Booo where did the sun go? 
500m Series 
Plenty more people today 
Back from a quick lil’ nap 
Look at that synch! 
Tribal Maui!