In the finals of Division A, the Motley Crew, of Racine, Wisconsin; The NEW Cooperative Dragon Masters, of Fort Dodge; and the Cedar River Gang of Eastern Iowa, were neck-and-neck-and-neck as the teams paddled across Badger Lake.

In the end, The Motley Crew and the Dragon Masters glided across the finish line together, with a time of 97.4 seconds, or 1.623 minutes. The Cedar River Gang wasn’t far behind with a finishing time of 98.1 seconds, or 1.635 minutes.

“If anybody wasn’t out there at the end of the day to see the last race, they missed probably one of the best races I’ve been part of in 25 years,” event co-chair Barb Michaels said.

Though the excitement was at the end of the day, the main event was the afternoon’s breast cancer survivor ceremony. The Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash celebrates and honors local women who have survived or are still fighting breast cancer. A silent auction raised upwards of $5,000 for the Cancer Center at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center to cover uninsured needs of patients, according to event co-chair Linda Donner.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Members of the Fighting Angels Abreast dragon boat team paddle their way across Badger Lake on Saturday.

The event got its roots many years ago when Donner and Michaels, members of the Daybreak Rotary Club, started a clean-up event down the Des Moines River. After a few years of that, the river got too low to race down, and the club decided they were ready to pass the event on to another group. That’s what started the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Association, Michaels said.

“One of the other things we’ve done as an organization is helped start breast cancer teams around the Midwest,” Michaels said. “We started our own breast cancer team, which provides support to newly diagnosed women.”

Three teams of breast cancer survivors competed on Saturday — Fighting Angels Abreast, of Fort Dodge; Life is Bliss, of Ames; and KC Pink Warriors, of Kansas City.

“On the boat, nothing else exists, except for that moment,” Michaels said during the breast cancer survivor ceremony. “What a positive way to experience life, especially for a survivor.”

The survivors were all given pink carnations to toss in the lake in honor of those battling breast cancer.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Dragoneirs, a youth dragon boat team, was one of two youth teams competing in the 2022 Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park.

In the boats, 20 paddlers, a drummer and a steerperson, work in unison to propel their vessels through the water.

“The key focus is teamwork, because if you don’t work together, you can’t make things happen,” Michaels said. “And that’s especially true in the boat.”

It takes dozens of volunteers to run the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash — which kicked off with a concert and fireworks on Friday night at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park. The volunteers did everything from running concessions to loading the boats to timing the races to helping with parking, and more.

“We can’t thank our volunteers enough,” Michaels said. “We had a small but mighty army of volunteers.”

RACE RESULTS

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Interstates dragon boat team paddles its way to the starting line of the race at the 2022 Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday.

Finals

Division A

Motley Crew – 1.623 (in minutes)

NEW Cooperative Dragon Masters – 1.623

Cedar River Gang – 1.635

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The NEW Cooperative Dragon Masters, in Boat 2, and the Interstates dragon boat team, in Boat 1, were neck-and-neck during the second timed trials of the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday. The Dragon Masters ultimately tied in the finals with the Motley Crew from Racine, Wisconsin.

Division B

Interstates – 1.703

Silver Bullet – 1.848

Cargill Corn Rowers – 1.917

Youth

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The Life is Bliss dragon boat team, of Ames, decorated their tent with unique bras at the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday. The team is comprised of breast cancer survivors.

Team Eagle – 2.106

Dragoneirs – 2.451

Breast Cancer Survivors

KC Pink Warriors – 1.800

Life is Bliss – 1.974

Fighting Angels Abreast – 2.199

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Dragon boat teams race past a family fishing at Badger Lake during the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The KC Pink Warriors, a breast cancer survivor team from Kansas City, won the breast cancer survivor team finals at the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash, with a time of 1.8 minutes.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Dragon boats are filled with breast cancer survivors holding up pink carnations in honor of those who are still fighting their battle.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A pink carnation floats in Badger Lake following a ceremony honoring breast cancer survivors at the Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash on Saturday.