Here's why Canada — and Alberta — are so good at dragon boat racing

Lethbridge's Mia Chalmet, 18, is a dragon boat racing world champion. 

She won two gold and two silver medals at the International Dragon Boat Federation World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, which wrapped up on Aug. 13. 

"When I first got [them], I put all four on my neck at one time," she said. "It actually started hurting after a while." 

Canada's national team won 52 gold medals at the event, far more than any other country. Canadian racers also took home 36 silver and 13 bronze medals. 

Athletes from the United States managed less than half of Canada's first-place finishes, winning 24 gold medals. 

China won 30 gold medals, even though the sport traces its origins back to China's Miluo River more than 2000 years ago, according to the International Dragon Boat Federation. 

"We are the best in the world. We have been the best for a very long time," said Dragon Boat Canada executive director Chloe Greenhalgh.

Greenhalgh credits Chinese business associations around the country for spreading the sports' popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as corporate team-building events, which latched onto dragon boat racing because of its accessibility. 

Dragon Boat Canada, established in 1994, was one of the world's first national federations. Canada has both a strong history and ample opportunity for flat water paddling, which have allowed the national team programs to sustain success, Greenhalgh said. 

"How long can we maintain this? I don't know," she said. "There's always this constant drive to continue to be the best in the world."

The world's first breast cancer dragon boat team was created in Vancouver in 1996 to challenge the myth that exercise was an added risk factor, according to the team, Abreast in a Boat.

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