Dragon Boat Marta First Festival 2012

This year for the first time in recent history a Dragon Boat Racing Competition was held in Marta during the Festa del Villano. The races were held on the Sunday and as we had been watching the Marta team training on the lake we thought it would be interesting to go along and watch. I am glad we did as it was fun and I hope it will become another annual event in Marta's social calender. 

The story of the return of Dragon Boat Racing to Marta after twenty years makes interesting reading on the Marta Dragon Website, it is in Italian but using Google Translate will give you the gist of the article. I have included here just one page translated by Google, not me, so forgive the grammatical errors, just to explain the return of this sport to Marta.  

... One Sunday in the summer of 2011, the village of Marta, on the shores of Lake Bolsena, was shaken by the distant sound of drums and rhythmic ... He was a familiar sound, known ... It evokes memories ... For twenty years he did not feel ... In the 'air we breathe lakeside intense curiosity ... Who recalls the memory ...

Turning his gaze out to sea you can see a strange craft approaching ... It has the elongated shape, especially the head and tail of DRAGO ... Twenty intrepid rowers, while the drum, allowing it to push the plane ... The breeze brings happiness in the country, those who remember are overwhelmed with emotion ... And 'resurrected the Dragon of Martha ... Back to the Dragon Boat on Lake Bolsena ... Comes the crew of the "DRAGON MARTA" ...

The "DRAGON MARTA" comes from 'idea and the dream of a group of youths in the country, to resume the discipline of the Dragon Boat Martha and stopped twenty years ago, ready and willing to point out the history and business of the crews of the previous small medieval village, "Tomao" and "Amalasunta", legendary successes, regional, national and global, which testifies to the participation and success in the Championship Final of the World Dragon Boat Hono Kong in 1991.

To date the crew, male and female, is made both to young talent that the old guards, combining the strength and enthusiasm of youth and 'experience during the past battles, a mix to optimize efforts and work of the group.

After a 'summer of intense training and demonstration outputs, the group comes out, he enrolled as a group of sports' Cultural Association "Marta without borders" in order to concentrate forces in the country of Marta, you pass to' FIDB (Federation Italian Dragon Boat) and participates in the first competitive event, the two days of the Roman "1st Rome International Dragon Boat Festival", now getting the 3 rd place in the race of 2000 meters.

2012 promises a year of intense competitive activity for the crew "Marta Dragon" as evidenced by the schedule of 'FIDB and the return of Marta in the country for the month of July event at the national level for the discipline of the Dragon Boat. ..  For more information check out the website: Marta Dragon Website,

There is also a connection with Breast Cancer Survivors.

                                                          

History of Dragon Boat Racing:

Dragon Boat Racing is a popular sport all over the world, the boat is 12.66 meters long and 1.06 meters wide with its head and tail in the shape of a dragon. These boats are driven by 20 athletes to the rhythm from the drummer, who use paddles with a length of 1.05 m and 1.30 ft wide, while the helmsman at the stern of the boat takes the direction with an oar about 3 meters long. 
The origins of the sport date back 2000 years ago when according to legend, the Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan threw himself 'in the river Mi-Lo a desperate act to protest against the harassment of which he was subjected his people by the government at that time.  Fishermen went on boats to search for the body of Qu Yuan forcefully slamming the waters with the oars to drive away the fish. This gave birth to  a tradition that remembers that day and is celebrated all over the East on the fifth day of the fifth moon. Since then it has grown with the forming many different federations all over the world.    

The best way in my opinion to view the photos of the event is as a video/slideshow so I have included two in the post. The first is my own and the second one is a friends, if however you are unable to view them the individual photos can be viewed in my album on Flickr.com entitled  Dragon Boat Racing    
                                                 Marta Dragon Boats - LindyLouMac

Published on YouTube by cortonotte.

For more information about the world of Italian and International Dragon Boat Racing I have included some links you may find useful and of interest.

Dragonboat - Wikipedia       Federation of Italian Dragon Boat Racing   First Festival Marta Dragon    European Dragon Boat Federation