West Island breast cancer survivor paddlers win gold at dragon boat world championships

Three Quebec breast cancer survivors are celebrating gold after racing to victory at the World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Germany.

A group of Canadian breast cancer survivor paddlers won gold at the 17th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships, taking place in Germany this month.

Sherri MacCullum, Vanya Chan and Maryse Gosselin made history with a first-place finish in the small boat two-kilometre race in the breast cancer paddlers division. Canada also won gold in the standard boat two-kilometre race, which included Gosselin.

“It’s great, pretty incredible,” MacCullum said.

MacCullum and Chan are members of the West Island Dragons team, based in Pointe-Claire.

They explained that back in January, organizers put out a call for a breast cancer paddlers team to compete at this year’s World Championships, something that had never happened before. The two women made the cut.

“We were both very surprised and happy — and I don’t know, overjoyed,” MacCullum said. “There were lots of tears. Getting up on a podium and having ‘O Canada’ play in the background with your flag being raised is quite the moment.”

But their dedication wasn’t just showcased on the water. To compete in the championships, each woman had to raise $8,000, which they did through various sources.

Chan also credited their perseverance for the team’s gold-medal performance.

“We just keep going at it. We’re not going to give up. We keep going until we make it. And that’s the philosophy for everybody on the team,” Chan said. “They’ve been through a lot. They practiced, they put in 100 per cent, even 200 per cent.”

The three women still have races ahead in the coming days and hope to perform just as well.

“The message is: it doesn’t matter if you have cancer, you just keep fighting. And if you can get through one stream of cancer, then you find something else, and you keep fighting. Life goes on, and it can be really good,” MacCullum said.

With files from Rob Laurie.