The following is a reprint of an article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday 26th May 2001

Time to let the dragons breathe fire
By Donald Trelford 

NEWS THAT dragon boat racing may be admitted to the East Asian Games in Macao in 2005 has raised hopes among Britain's dragon boat racers - who currently hold five world titles in this ancient Chinese sport - that it will also become an Olympic event if Beijing succeeds in its bid to host the Games in 2008.

In addition to five golds at the last world championships at Nottingham in 1999, our men and women also won a number of silver and bronze medals in a sport that is suddenly thriving over here. Last year in Malmo, Britain were overall European champions.

Yet the sport is still not officially recognised in this country and receives no state or Lottery funding. When the British team of about 30 men and women head off to defend their world titles in Philadelphia in August, they will be paying their own fares and expenses.

Andy Fiennes Trotman, who captained the Masters crew to four world titles at the Holme Pierrepont national water sports centre in 1999, believes the sport is taking off. 'In China it's over 2,000 years old and is part of their culture, history and religion,' he said. 'Here it has been going for only 15 years, but it's such fun and such a marvellous communal sport that both men and women are attracted to it.'

A Masters crew totals 22 - the helmsman, who wields a giant oar at the back, 20 paddlers (10 on each side of the boat) and a drummer who beats out the stroke. They go up to 70 strokes a minutes (faster than an Oxbridge crew or even Steve Redgrave). The Chinese have recorded bursts of up to 120 strokes a minute. The course is over 250, 500 or 1,000 metres.

Trotman said: 'The sport draws in people from various disciplines. In the same crew you might have an Olympic rower, an Oxford stroke and world-class competitors in canoeing or kayaking.'

It would be ironic if Britain were to win Olympic medals in a sport our authorities do not even recognise or support. That surely cannot be allowed to happen. If dragon boat racing is admitted to the East Asian Games, never mind the Olympics, that should be the signal for Sport England to put some money behind one of the great secret success stories of British sport.