On June 20 and 21, more than 150 teams (comprised of nearly 5,000 athletes) competed in the 21st annual Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival at Toronto Centre Island.  BMO First Dragons from the Greater Toronto Area has represented the company at this festival since its inaugural year.

This year the First Dragons faced a tough challenge: to win back-to-back Bankers’ Cup Championships.  This prestigious Championship is open to dragon boat teams from the financial services industry.  For this race, each member of the team had to be an employee of the organization that they were representing.  No team has won consecutive championships, since this same BMO team did in 2003 and 2004. 

 Despite rainy weather on Saturday, the First Dragons turned some heads in the preliminary races; ranking first amongst all teams from the financial services industry and 15th overall in the Festival’s Premier Mixed Division.  As great as this accomplishment was, the First Dragons knew that their job was far from over. 

On Sunday, the First Dragons completed their mission.  Under cloudless skies and in front of a packed grandstand, they handily defeated five other teams from the financial services industry and became back-to-back Bankers’ Cup Champions.

The successful weekend culminated for the First Dragons with a third place finish in the Premier Mixed “C” Division, missing out on first place by just 3/10s of a second and posting the 14th fastest final time of any Premier Mixed team in the process.

Double medalists in one of the largest dragon boat regattas in the world.  An outstanding end to a tremendous weekend.

What’s next for the BMO First Dragons?  They will be competing in the Montreal International Dragon Boat Festival on July 25 and 26 and will also be representing BMO in other community regattas across Ontario in August and September, including the Stratford Dragon Boat Festival on September 19.  If you happen to be in the area, come and cheer on the First Dragons to victory!

For more information about the BMO First Dragons, or joining the team for the 2010 season, please visit the team’s website at http://www.bmodragons.com/.

Posted on July 20, 2009 on BMO-Harris Central Intranet Portal

1) Reference on June 22, 2009 (A4 Section).

Here is the translation to the article.  

The 21st Telus International Dragon Boat Festival Finals took place at Toronto Center Island on Sunday.  Weather was perfect and many Torontonians were waiting in line for the ferry at the lake shore to watch the races.  Overall winner OHDBC Mayfair Predators with a time of 1:59:08 took home the gold for the third time in a row.

1.        Telus Mobility PR manager (in green) along with Toronto Chinese Business Association president presenting to OHDBC Mayfair Predators.

2.        BMO First Dragons won gold in the 1^st Ming Pao Financial Industry Cup, presented by prior Toronto Chinese Business Association president.

3.        Overall winner OHDBC Mayfair Predators have won this competition two years in a row, yesterday’s win made it three years in a row

2) Reference on June 27, 2009 (S2 Section)