PADDLE FOR PINK: Members of Machestic Dragons Dragon Boat team that focuses on breast cancer survivors will race in their flagship event on Saturday, June 13 at Mercer Lake in West Windsor Township. (Image courtesy of YourTownTube)

By Wendy Greenberg

Susan Benjamin began searching for a local dragon boat team after she recovered from breast cancer in 2014 because her daughter read it could be helpful. It was on Mercer Lake that she found her “floating support sisterhood” in the Machestic Dragons.

For the last 11 years the Monroe Township resident has been coming to practices twice a week, after working at home all day. At age 85, she has stamina and endurance, she said, and calls her time spent in the boat “exhilarating. My mind tends not to focus, but on the boat, I’m in the moment. It’s a marvelous place to be.”

Machestic Dragons, New Jersey’s first organized dragon boat team for breast cancer survivors, is more than a sport: it’s a means to educate others about breast cancer awareness, and to instill hope in others just diagnosed or recovering.

“We become sisters,” said President Francesca Gervasi of Lawrence Township. “This is the closest group of women I have ever been with.”

Mercer Lake in Mercer County Park in West Windsor Township is the location for the annual Dragon Boat Festival, Paddle for Pink, which is on June 13 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with parking opening at 6 a.m. The event is a celebration of spirit, and also a fundraiser, with proceeds going to local organizations that provide essential services to breast cancer patients and survivors.

There are several racing divisions, and several races, culminating in a 2,000-meter race limited to the top eight teams. The full day of dragon boat races, which is open to the public, also features a silent auction, live entertainment, food and a “flowers on the water” ceremony in which pink carnations on the lake honor those who have experienced breast cancer.

The Paddle for Pink event will feature “one of the best silent auctions I’ve seen at a festival,” she said, noting its more than $30,000 worth of items.

Gervasi said the group is searching now for a food vendor which must meet West Windsor Health Department regulations. She also noted that the Paddle for Pink races would welcome more teams to join.

Gervasi discovered the organization when she met a friend hiking and decided to support the friend by volunteering. Gervasi was not a paddler before her friend brought her on the team. “A lot of us have not been in boats before. But you are not by yourself, you are with other people.”

The team, she said, is made up of many types of survivors, but the focus is on breast cancer survivors. “We are all survivors of something,” she said.

Most of the paddlers are from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last year the Paddle for Pink proceeds went to four different organizations: the Breast Cancer Resource Center at the YWCA Princeton; Kin Wellness Center and Revive2Thrive, both in Bucks County, Pa; and Move Over Breast Cancer, based in Princeton.

“The beauty of the organization is that the women are magnificent,” said Gervasi. Ages vary from 21 to 85, but the majority of members are in their 60s.

Twenty community and corporate teams from the tri-state area will race. Machestic has about 40 members, but not all of them paddle. The boat is made up of survivors and supporters. Each boat holds 22 people. The Machestics own two boats, which are moored on the lake in season and are towed to a nearby barn in the winter.

Dragon boating, an ancient Chinese watercraft activity, emerged as a modern team sport for breast cancer survivors in Canada when a Canadian sports medicine physician, Dr. Don McKenzie, theorized in the late 1980s that women recovering from breast cancer should embrace physical activity, when the going practice was to avoid it, Gervasi noted. McKenzie’s studies showed that the exercise prevented or reduced cases of lymphedema, which is caused by damage to or removal of the lymph nodes during treatment. He launched Abreast in a Boat in 1996, the first breast cancer survivor dragon boat team. Since then, many studies support the contention that resistance exercise, like dragon boat paddling, is therapeutic for women recovering from breast cancer.

“Paddling, which is different than rowing,” said Gervais, “is a great exercise for women with breast cancer. New survivors can see that there is hope after breast cancer. The strenuous activity says, ‘I can do stuff.’ I’ve improved immeasurably,” she said. “Each coach has their own techniques, and I now feel confident helping others.”

Paddle for Pink will help non-team members “get a sense of the mission,” said Benjamin. “We educate about breast cancer, the need for mammograms, for men too. It’s a huge fundraiser for the cause. A large percentage goes back to the local organizations. The community needs to know that their presence there helps to know what the mission is.”

Team members don’t have to attend every practice, she said. “Come out and have a free practice, and consider being a paddler. It is a good way to show the public that there is life after breast cancer diagnosis.”

Sometimes, said Gervasi, she is tired, but goes to a practice anyway. “Once at practice it is so invigorating, it’s fun, it’s great, you feel like you have accomplished something. You work and encourage each other. It’s hard to describe it, but once you start it takes over. You feel so good.”

To get in touch with Machestic Dragons, either about helping at the Paddle for Pink event, or to explore joining the group, email machestic

dragons@gmail.com or visit machesticdragons.org.