Semi-Competitive Crews

These crews are everyone-welcome with no tryout process and a focus on skills development.

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Newest Crew - Juniors

Our Junior program started in 2025 with great success at the PanAm Championships - the Flash Dragons U16 Mixed took silver in all race distances, while our Sportchicklets U16 Girls won silver in the 200m, and gold in both the 500m and 2k events. 

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• Flash Dragons Junior Mixed (aged 13 - 18)

• Sportchicklets Junior Girls (aged 12 - 18) 

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Para

​The newest racing class with Dragon Boat Canada, Para provides an accessible paddling experience. All are welcome to paddle with the Bytown Para program. In competition, there are two classes: PD1 where all paddlers must be Para paddlers and PD2 where the number of non-para paddlers may equal but not exceed the number of para paddlers. 

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​The Evolution kick-start program

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 Evolution provides a competitive dragon boat experience to novice and recreational dragon boat paddlers, athletes interested in transitioning from other sports, and competitive paddlers looking for a lower commitment level. Our coaches provide training opportunities both on and off the water that focus on paddling technique, endurance, race plans & strategies, paddling specific warm-ups, fitness testing and dragon boat community development and ultimately racing experiences.

 

The success and popularity of Bytown Evolution has prompted three crews: Evo Essentials, Evo Plus, and now Evo Energy.

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Evo Essentials

• Designed for paddlers on other rec crews or stepping into competitive DB from recreational paddling

• Practicing now on Tuesdays at 7PM until August ​13th

• Racing at a local festival at the end of August

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Evo Energy

• Designed for paddlers who paddled at Tim Horton's Dragon Boat Festival 

• Short 6-week program

• Practices for 2026 TBD

• Racing at a local festival at the end of August​

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Evo+:

• Designed to provide competitive level racing experience

• Racing focus: CanAmerican Club Crew Championships at the end of July

• 2 - 3 practices per week, to end of August​

• Paddlers will also get a chance to join in some of our competitive crew practices.

• 3 Festivals during the summer​

• Note: Participants will need to register as Dragon Boat Canada members (~$30) to compete

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Cost:

These are all-inclusive seasonal cost, includes:

• Coaching and practices

• Entry and racing at dragon boat festivals / competitions

• Bytown Dragon Boat Club Membership

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​How:

​Fill out our Join A Crew Form and we will send you registration instructions.

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Competitive Crews​​

Our competitive cr​ews compete at the highest levels of their divisional racing

 

Our crews are currently training for the Can-Am Championships in July 2026.. Many of our crews qualified for and will race at Club Crew World Championships in Taipei, Taiwan in September 2026.

 

Interested paddlers will be contacted by our team captains and assessed by our crew coaches prior to being placed on a team.

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W​ho:

Experienced paddlers or competitive individuals in the following divisions:​

• Carleton Ravens U24 (ages 18-24​)

• Premier Mixed (any age)

• Sportchicks Senior A Women (ages 39+)

• Sportchicks Senior B Women (ages 49+)

• Super C Senior C Women (ages 59+)

• Senior C Open / Men (ages 59+)

• Senior D Mixed (ages 69+)​

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What's involved:

​3-4 practices per week plus off-water training

Racing at 4+ festivals in Ottawa, Montreal, and abroad

Winter training: fitness training, pool paddling

Regular assessments​​​​ 

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Cost:

Varies by crew according to the crew's practice choices and festivals. Travel is expected.

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How:

Fill in our "Join a Crew" form and tell us about your previous experience.