Teams raced on dragon boats Saturday morning at Castaic Lake, participating in Team Dragon Eyes’ fifth annual Dragon Boat Festival.
More than 60 teams registered for the competition that started at 8 a.m. sharp as teams began competing in 200-meter sprints.
TDE team manager Shilpa Desai reflected on the yearly fundraiser.
“The number of teams has been growing. This is one of the fundraisers in Los Angeles and people just want to come here for the entertainment, the races and all hang out together,” Desai said.
The base fees, according to Desai, are $400, and teams can enter a team of maximum 10 paddlers for a 10- or 20-person boat.
“The highly competitive teams, like the women’s boats, have 10 paddlers on a 20-person boat, so they have a heavier boat and have to work hard to make it to the finish line,” Desai said. “But the corporate and community boats, which are more recreational, get a 10-person boat and 10 paddlers. So they have to have their own challenges, but they still have to work hard to get to the finish line.”
According to Desai, all proceeds go toward team building, as well as maintaining the boats, taking care of the growing team, participating in various races and even creating a juniors team.
“This is our first year as a nonprofit organization, so we are on our own for the first time. This is one of the pristine locations for people to come to — it’s fun for them, it’s not super competitive so people can relax. People come here for half a day and have fun with teams from Las Vegas, Arizona, San Diego,” Desai said. “Everyone should come try it.”
Hector Inzunza, regional park superintendent of Castaic Lake, reflected on the upward trend of participation in the past five years.
“There’s been an increase the last couple of years in participation, and a lot of it has to do with Team Dragon Eyes putting the word out there to bring the word out to the community. They project that maybe next year there will be another 20% increase,” Inzunza said.
Inzunza hopes to utilize the large canvas of Castaic Lake for more events like this in the future.
“I’m always supportive of these events. We have this huge canvas that needs to be used for an event like this. There are people from all over who come here to recreate — it’s a big plus for me and I’m hoping that this continues throughout the years,” Inzunza said. “Being a public servant, one of my main goals is to make sure that these recreational opportunities exist for these organizations.”
