The 2008 Dragon Boat Festival. Click to enlarge.
Forty-nine local teams will battle it out for gold, and bragging rights, during the 3rd Annual Chattanooga Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday at the Chickamauga Dam. The event includes a full day of races on the water and a variety of famil activities along the shore. The first race will get under way at 8:30 a.m.
The Chattanooga Dragon Boat Festival, presented by General Shale Brick, is a fundraiser T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger with pledges raised by each paddler. Last year the festival raised over $115,000 for Children’s Hospital and hopes to surpass that goal this year.
“The funds raised from this year’s event will enhance the many programs, special projects, and services used by area children and their families including the expansion of surgical services and the acquisition of advanced technology for pediatric heart care,” said Betsy Taylor, chief development officer at Erlanger.
Teams competing in this year’s festival include: AIA Chattanooga; Amerifoods – Team Amerifoods; Benchmark Physical Therapy – Benchmark; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee – Rowed Warriors; Chattanooga Ski Club; Chattanooga Times Free Press – The Paper Dragons; Chattem – Mosquito Coasters; Comcast – Comcast Crocs; Community Team – Rockin’ and Rollin’ Realtors; Community Team – The Day Trippers; Community Team – Tipsy Canoe; Community Team – Ship Happens; Dragon Boat Atlanta – Steel Magnolias; EMJ Corporation; Erlanger East – East Divas and Docs; Erlanger ICU – Critical Care Cruisers; Erlanger Technology Management – Virtual Paddlers; First Tennessee Bank; Fitness Together; General Shale Brick – Scenic City Shockers; GT Fitness Studio – GT’s Pumping Paddlers; Henderson, Hutcherson & McCullough; Heritage Funeral home – The Pallbearers; Hospice of Chattanooga – Hospice Free Love; Johnson Group – I’m On A Boat; Joseph Decosimo & Company – Abacus; Lectrus Corporation – Lectrus Sunken Steel Dragons; Life Care Center of East Ridge – LCC East Ridge Ninjas; Mars Snackfood – Candy Canoe; National Print Group – Pantone Paddlers; NewsChannel 9 – The Niners; NHC – Team Dragon Fly; North Shore Fellowship Church – Superfun
Paddlers; Northwest Georgia Bank; Regional Obstetrical Consultants – ROC da Boat; Schering-Plough – Coppertone Copperheads; Sodexo at Erlanger – Sodexo Sync or Swim; Southern Champion Tray – Southern Champs; T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Pediatrics – Pediatric Paddlers; T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Pediatric ICU – TCTCH Pediatric ICU Lifesavers; TCTCH Children’s Therapy Services – Pirates of the CAREibbean; Tennessee Valley Canoe Club – Canoe Wong Foo; TVA – TVA Power Rowers; UNUM; UT Family Practice – UT Water Mocs; Valmont-Newmark; Worley Parsons – Newton’s Force; Yerbey Concrete Construction – The Scallywags.
Volunteers are still needed for morning and afternoon shifts, manning registration and general information booths, monitoring the finish line, as well as marshalling, loading, and unloading teams. Visit www.erlanger.org/dragonboat and follow the links to “find a team or participant to support” or “make a gift.” For more information about this event, visit http://chatt.racedragonboats.com or call (423) 778-4688. For more
information about volunteering, please call the T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Foundation at (423) 778-8057.
NOTE TO MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA: Dragon Boat Teams Practice for Showdown
on the Water
Join local dragon boat teams this week as they receive instruction on
the water to prepare for the 3rd Annual Chattanooga Dragon Boat
Festival, presented by General Shale Brick and benefiting T.C.
Thompson Children's Hospital at Erlanger. During practices, teams will
load the dragon boats at Chickamauga Marina and paddle on the lake
with certified dragon boat coaches/steerspeople.
Photo and video opportunities, as well as interviews can be arranged.
Please call to set up an exact time in case event organizers are in a
boat. To coordinate scheduling, contact Penny Behling at 778-4688.
For more information about dragon boating and local involvement, visit
www.racedragonboats.com.