relentless
dragon boat association
What is dragon boat racing?
An ancient Chinese sport of 42-foot boats crewed by 20 paddlers, a steersperson and a drummer. More ⇒
Become a member
Relentless is looking for new members! If you have experience, great. If not, we will show you. More ⇒
Race schedule & results
We are back to a full schedule of practicing and racing this year and will follow covid safety guidelines. More ⇒
What is dragon boat racing?
Dragon boat racing started in ancient China, 2000 years ago. The modern sport began in Hong Kong in 1976 and came to the US in 1983. Today there are national and international competitions around the world.
The boats are about 41' long and tapered, 42" wide in the middle. There are 10 seats, each with a pair of paddlers sitting side-by-side, facing forward. Each paddler holds a single-bladed paddle. A steersperson stands in the back, and when racing, a drummer sits in the front, beating the cadence.
Typical race distances are 200 meters, 500 meters and 2000 meters.
Club Crew National Championships are held on odd years and Club Crew World Championships are held on even years. The 2024 Paris Olympics may have dragon boat racing as a demo sport.
Pictures: 2023 season
Mercer Dragon Boat Festival, New Jersey
Riverfront Dragon Boat Festival, Hartford
Cooper River Dragon Boat Festival
Gilda's Dragon Boat Festival
Independence Dragon Boat Regatta
Fathers Day
Shad Fest
Winter training
Relentless Teams
One united club, multiple teams
Mixed 1
The Relentless Mixed 1 Team is a dedicated, competitive and social crew that has a strong passion for the sport of dragon boating. The team practices Monday and Wednesday evenings and competes in 5-6 races every season, including 1 or 2 travel races.
Co-captains: John Sullivan and Patrick Collins
Warriors
Relentless Warriors is our second competitive mixed team in our organization, having been formed in 2017 as our organization expanded in response to the ever-growing interest in dragon boating. We are made up of men and women with paddling experience ranging from newcomer novices to ten years or more.
Warriors practices take place on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Like all Relentless teams we welcome guest paddlers who would like to join us at a few practices to experience first hand why this is such a fun team oriented sport.
Co-captains: Harry Brown & Ken Brask
Passion
Relentless Passion is one of the newest teams in our club. This team is a blend of novice and experienced paddlers of all ages who are passionate about paddling and fun competition. The team is a Mixed Boat for practices and may separate into Women's and Open men's divisions for races based on the ratio of men to women on the boat at the time. Practices are Sundays 8:15am and Tuesdays 6:30pm. We are actively recruiting members as of Spring 2023.
Co-captains: Terri O'Neill & Terry Morgan
Orange Krush
Orange Krush is a competitive fun loving fitness minded group of women who enjoy life on and off the water. We have great team camaraderie. We practice twice a week: Sundays at 9:30 am and Thursdays at 6:30 pm.
Co-captains Jacqui Ahrens and Robyn Reichert are positive thinkers working towards promoting team improvement as a unit. “All for one, one for all” is our motto.
Our favorite races of every season are the Independence Dragon Boat Regatta in Philadelphia and Mercer County Park.
Ignite
Relentless Ignite is a women’s team created before the 2023 season. Composed of experienced paddlers and novices, our goal is to competitively embrace the sport of dragon boating while having fun on and off the river. Ignite strives for competitiveness, camaraderie, and cohesion. Our team motto is “Ignite your Inner Dragon”. We practice once a week on Thursday evenings at 6:30.
In our inaugural 2023 season, we competed and took gold in our community division at both Cooper River and Mercer County Dragon Boat Festivals.
Co-captains: Lauren Forlenza and Denise Grimm
Paddlynn' Red
The Paddlynn' Red team is a community team that practices on Tuesday evenings and typically races two times a season. We are a tight-knit team that loves the sport of dragon boating and the physical fitness, challenge and fun it provides.
Co-captains: April Franlin & Kim Smith
Fierce
Fierce is a community boat of proud, exuberant women, driven to achieve desired goals within their reach. This team values teamwork, building relationships and giving back to the community through service activities. Team Fierce always works to do whatever it takes to fulfill our mission on and off the water.
