The Osoyoos Lake Paddle Club’s women’s team finished second in the Gold A Division of Penticton’s Dragon Boat Festival on Skaha Lake this weekend. (Contributed photo)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

Fresh off of their appearance and strong performance at the Penticton Dragon Boat Festival, members of the Osoyoos Lake Paddling Club (Desert Spirit) are heading to the 55+ BC Games in Kelowna feeling good.

The Desert Spirit team brought home some top-three finishes after racing on Skaha Lake in Penticton at the Dragon Boat Festival on Sept. 7 and 8.

The women’s team placed second in the Gold A Division and the mixed team notched a third-place finish in Diamond Division B finals.

“It’s the first time our club, and we’ve been in existence now for 17 years, have put in an all-women team,” Wendy Barlow, president of the Osoyoos Lake Paddling Club.

It was a “wild ride” for the second race with the mixed team, with some wind picking up the waves on Skaha Lake.

“We were on the outside lane, which was where the waves were coming in on, so it was quite interesting. We called it a wild ride,” Barlow laughed. “But we did it. We placed well enough to get into the Sunday heat.”

• Read more: Coyotes trim roster as season opener approaches

The women’s team got into a “wild ride” as well, Barlow said, and on Sept. 8 weather conditions cleared up a bit.

“We are very, very pleased with our results,” Barlow said. “We’re thrilled and we’re on a high right now heading to the 55+ Games.”

A good portion of the team is over 55 years old and they are racing fit for the games in Kelowna, according to Barlow.

“We have gone to the games in the past, so we are very much looking forward to this. We are in very good shape, we have a phenomenal head coach,” Barlow said.

The team has benefited from experienced dragon boat instructor, Johnny Cheong, who came on as head coach for the club last year. Cheong has trained junior teams in Toronto, with some of his paddlers heading to the international levels of competition.

“He has really fine-tuned our paddle technique, which is really nice. We are having less injuries now which is good, particularly when we are seniors, we don’t need any more injuries,” Barlow laughed.

The Desert Spirit team headed to Kelowna Sept. 11 with the opening ceremonies kicking off the games that evening, and their first race is Sept. 12.