RyeDBoat History

Ryerson Dragon Boat [Rye-D-Boat] Club was formed in 2003 by a small group of Ryerson University students. The team started out as more of a community team that used the experience of dragon boating to have fun and staying fit with new friends. Since then, Rye-D-Boat still holds strong to that sense of communal value within the team. This communal atmosphere strongly represents Ryerson’s community, which is reflected by the variety of dedicated individuals involved with Rye-D-Boat from different ethnicities, cultures, and educational backgrounds.

Since the creation of the team, Rye-D-Boat has become more competitive and has gathered a stronger presence amongst the dragon boat community. With each preceding year, Rye-D-Boat strives to continually set higher goals to train the next finest and tightest group of paddlers out there on the university paddling scene. Our team’s ultimate goal is to be the #1 University Dragon Boat Crew that participates in all the regattas that contains a university division. At the same time the Ryerson Dragon Boat team would also aim to be one of the top tier teams in the open division competing with other premiere crews.

Sandun Weerasinghe started the first Ryerson dragon boat team in 2003. The team only had about 8 water practices, and raced in the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival (TIDBRF). This was more of a community team consisting of Ryerson students and the level of competition was relatively low.