By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas International Dragon Boat Festival is fast becoming an international affair with more competitors from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean competing.

But the local boats representing Baha Mar, Breezes Super Club, the Royal Bahamas Police and Defence Forces are some of the competitors who continue to hold onto the Bahamian pride of not just being great hosts, but super champions.

The fourth edition of the festival was held over the weekend on Goodman’s Bay with the Buoys and Gulls and the IV League, High Tide, CI Gibson Rattlers and King Tide all adding to the list of Bahamian winners.

Dr Christine Chin, president of the Bahamas Chinese Dragon Boat Association, called it a great success with teams from New Jersey, Oregon, Jamaica, Trinidad and Canada.

The visitors also got a taste of the Bahamian culture as local entertainer D-Mack provided some live music, DJ AC kept the fans on their feet with his commentating and there was a junkanoo rushout.

“The Bahamian teams held their own and the weather held up for us to complete the event,” she said. “We didn’t have any rain. We had a little bit of lightning and we were held up for about half an hour twice.

“But apart from that, it was a very successful event. It was better than expected. We believe that this will only help to encourage more people to come out to the fifth edition May 2-3, 2026.”

For the third time, Ann-Marie Davis, wife of Prime Minister Philip Davis, was on hand to lend her support and also to participate in the awards presentation. 

“Sailing is our national sport and this is a water sport competition and it gives us global recognition, so while there are those who are here for the fight against breast cancer, there are a lot of activities for everybody to do,” Davis said. Some of the winners expressed their satisfaction in getting the job done as they emerged champions in their various categories in yesterday’s grand finale. 

Roderick Rahming, coach of the Baha Mar’s Buoys and Gulls, said it was a tremendous feeling to repeat as the champions of the Major Final Open 200 - Division A and the winners of the Major Final Open 500m.

“Right now, I can’t believe it. We had a good run. It was a close race, but we came out with the win,” said Rahming in their win over Nauti Crew. “The team just clicked on all cylinders and we got the job done.” 

Kirk McKyale, the coach of the Cable Bahamas Dragon Warriors, said their victory in the Minor A Final Open 500m was a vast improvement from last year.

“We didn’t get on the stage, but with some training, we improved significantly, so the performance of the team was just great,” he said. “We are just moving up and up and next year we hope to get another gold.”

Inspector Terrell Stubbs, who managed both the men and women’s groups from the Royal Bahamas Police Force that included the King Tide and the High Tide for women, said their performances were good.

“This was the first time we entered the mixed category,” he said. “In the past two years, we have been falling down in the C category, but I am satisfied with my team’s performances. We advanced to the A category where we were in the inaugural Dragon Boat race.

“We went up against some of the best in this race, but we pushed through, we stayed with our technique and we came out on top. We will be back next year, bigger and better.”

The IV League, representing the University of the West Indies here in the Bahamas, was a double champion in the Minor Final Mixed 200m and the Manor Final Open 200m Division B.

Deshon Joseph, one of the captains of the team, said with a lot of them consisting of medical students, it was difficult to put the time in to workout as a team.

“But we learnt a lot from the first day on DSaturday and we really came back here today and performed,” hje said. “I’m really proud of our team and everyb=one who came out and supported us.”

Chief Petty Officer Andy Deveqaux of RBDF Mariners, said his year they added a youth team to the men’s tram and with just three practices, they went out and performed exceptionally well.

These boys dug deep, they persevered and they won,” he said. “With a little more training, they could even beat the big boys. Give them two or three more weeks and they could beat everybody.”

Amil Miller said their CI Gibson Rattlers decided to bring their senior boys basketball team to get in some conditioning work for the upcoming Government Secondary Schools Sports Association and they got the title.

“We wanted to bring our team chemistry,” he said. “We worked for this.”

Bastien Pratt, coach of the Blue Marlins, sponsored by GG Car, said they couldn’t ask for a better showing. In fact, this was the best that they ever did in winning the Final Seniors 200m.

“We practiced for two to three months and we did very well. We executed properly,” he said. “It was very good. We are very satisfied with our performance.”

This year, two more races were added to the competition over the two days.

On Saturday, there was the pursuit race called “Catch Me If You Can,” where five boats raced at 10- seconds intervals to catch the boat in front. No one caught anyon=body, but they all left smiling.

Then on Sunday, there was the Knockout 200m called the “Musical Chairs in dragon boat racing,” where the last of the three boats in the first race was eliminated, leaving the final two to compete for the top prize.

The list of winners are as follows:

Major Final Open 200 - Division A 

1. Buoys and Gulls, 1:00.09; 2. Nauti Crew, 1:01.99; 3. Naval Destroyers, 1:03.81,

Major Final Open 200 - Division B

1. IV League, 1:01.63; 2. Mariners 1:05.49; 3. Tropic Sea Breezes, 1:09.95.

Major Final Open 200 - Division C

1. Mushu Dragons, 1:05.64; 2. Jaded Unicoms, 1:16.79; 3. Bustin’ Free, 1:21.17.

Minor Final Open 200 - Division A 

1. Draco Regis, 1:03.18; 2. Water Defenders, 1:03.38; 3. Dragon Warriors, 1:03.51.

Minor Final Open 200 - Division B

1. Sandragons, 1:06.71; 2. Blue Marlins, 1:08.29; 3. Rattlers, 1:10.73.

Minor Final Open 200 - Division C

1. Buccaneers, 1:05.83; 2. NUA Risk Takers, 1:18.08; 3. Jersey Dragon Senior B, 1:21.83.

Final Women 200m

1. High Tide, 1:14.34; 2. Jersey Dragon All Cancer, 1:19.61; 3. Jaded Unicorns, 1:23.71.

Final 18U 200m 

1. CI Gibson Rattlers, 1:17.95; 2. Phoenix Drangoneers, 1:19.87.

Final U24 200

1. Mariners, 1:05.95; 2. Draco Regis, 1:06.69.

Major Final Mixed 200

1. King Tide, 1:-06.18; 2. Sandragons, 1:09.48; 3. Jamaican National Team, 1:10.80.

Minor Final Mixed 200m

1. IV League, 1:09.36; 2. DH Dragons, 1:10.84; 3. NUA Prisk Takers, 1:20.63.

Final Seniors 200m 

1. Blue Marlins Senior B - 1:14.74; 2. Jersey Dragons Senior B, 1:22.72.

Major Final Open 500m 

1. Buoys and Gulls, 2:39.70; 2. Mariners, 2:47.80; 3. Draco Regis, 2:59.42.

Minor Final Open 500m 

1. Dragon Warriors, 2:46.12; 2. Water Defenders, 2:50.19; 3. High Tide, 2:54.356.

Tail Final Open 500m 

1. King Tide, 2:57.60; 2. Tropic Sea Breezes, 2:59.99; 3. Jaded Unicorns, 3:20.62.

Knockout Race 1 - Round 2

1. Dragon Warriors, 1:09.63; 2. Breakin’ free, 1:23.89.

Knockout Race  - Round 1

1. DragonWarriors, 1:08.00; 2. Breakin’ Free, 1:38. 57; 3. Draco Regis, 1:28.59.