After a year’s hiatus, our dragon boat crew “Team Friendship†once again participated in the Twin Cities’ Dragon Festival at Phalen Regional Park in St. Paul. While our competitive performance was a bit disappointing, we were delighted to have a team with a great mix of paddlers of both Chinese and western heritage, with a range of ages, a majority of women, a flag-catcher who was the 2008 Beijing Olympics overall bronze medalist in gymnastics (Ms. YANG Yilin), and three of the artisans from Changsha who are in St. Paul constructing the replica pavilion at our St. Paul – Changsha China Friendship Garden. We were once again proud to wear team shirts that prominently display the USCPFA “You†character, and we thank our participants for paddling furiously and our sponsors for donating generously. If you haven’t put “paddle on a dragon boat team” on your bucket list, you should; we’ll be paddling again next July!
YANG Yilin (center) with Team Friendship members
Team Friendship takes an early lead
