Dragon boats take over harbor, fuel Catholic Charities

As the canoe-like boats adorned with dragon heads raced across the water in Hong Kong, Harold A. Smith’s mind drifted back to Baltimore.

He pictured similar dragon boats, as they’re known, slicing through the waters of the Inner Harbor to raise money for Catholic Charities, where Mr. Smith serves as executive director.

“The most striking thing was the enthusiasm of not only the paddlers, but the people who were watching,” Mr. Smith said. “People were just incredibly enthusiastic – a lot of yelling and cheering from the sidelines, from the boats themselves.”

A decade after debuting on the Inner Harbor, the Catholic Charities Dragon Boat Races returned to Baltimore once more Sept. 13 for the biennial event.

Before a crowd of about 15,000 people, 33 teams representing corporations and other organizations competed for fastest time in the water and, on Rash Field, vied for best team tent, song and dragon hat.

For each team, the daylong event culminated about nine weeks’ practice. They worked to get 20 paddles to hit the water and stroke in unison, to the beat of a drummer at the front of the boat, all while perfecting the depth of strokes and body rotation.

At the races on the Inner Harbor, some teams may have seemed like veterans of the sport.

Not so, said Kevin Hill, a project leader in information technology for DAP, recalling practice.

“If you’d been there the first week,” he said, “you would have said ‘What’s wrong with these guys?’”

Each team’s sponsor is partnered with a Catholic Charities program, building bridges. DAP not only contributed to Esperanza Place, which serves new immigrants in the Baltimore area, but also provides Christmas gifts to families that otherwise could not afford them.

Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse employees and clients of Christopher Place Employment Academy, which helps formerly homeless men, served lunch together at Our Daily Bread. Children at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary School gave up their snack money to contribute to the school’s partner, Villa Maria’s after-school program.

“As teachers, it’s important for us to be models for our students, and you know, we talk about putting faith in action,” said Lisa Shipley, the principal at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The festive atmosphere extended to Rash Field, where team members danced, performed chants and showed off decorated drummer’s hats.

Between races, many huddled under elaborately decorated tents to escape the scorching sun

The tent for Mount St. Mary’s University resembled the exterior of the school’s chapel, complete with a brick façade, stained-glass window and two crosses on top. DAP’s tent featured a simulated rainforest with foam rocks, a waterfall and a thatched roof. A red-and-white lighthouse, with a buoy for Villa Maria, formed the façade of the Harkins Builder tent.

Dragon boat races, which originated more than 2,000 years ago in China, have proved so popular here, Catholic Charities made them a regular event in 1998.

Since then, 17 teams have competed in every race, and this year’s event netted about $450,000, Catholic Charities said.

Stephanie Anderson, a 2000 graduate of Mount St. Mary’s and a member of its team, said she’s already looking forward to next year’s race.

“Once you go to a race,” she said, “and you experience it and you see the effect it has, it’s contagious,” she said. “It really is contagious.”

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