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Dragon Boat Canada


IDBF


Canoe Kayak Canada

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[DBWTim]

Hey everyone,
I know some of you are wondering, with the forest fires inching closer to Kelowna, if the Sept 13-14 Kelowna Festival is still gonna go through.  Just thought I'd share this email I got from the guys at the Kelowna Festival today.

Greetings Paddlers

We'd like to begin by thanking everyone for their concerns about Kelowna and the Okanagan as the fires continue to burn . We've had some inquiries as to whether the festival is still on and our answer is that it's much too early to say. The Okanagan Mountain Park fire situation is changing quickly, and there is no way to predict what's going to happen next.

We still have 3 weeks to go until race day, and we'll continue to monitor the situation (and pray for two and a half weeks of rain!). The management of the Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival is continuing to move forward and plan for our absolute biggest festival yet!

On that note I'd like to let everyone know that we have already sold out all team entries as of August 12. That's 154 teams! - an increase of 22 teams over last year's festival, plus we have a waiting list!  We look forward to seeing everyone in Kelowna for some great fun and great racing!

Thanks Again

Don Mulhall

Let's hope/pray/wish for rain for the next couple weeks.

[Nook]

I'm bringing marshmallows!

[Photog]

holy crap, 154 teams! that's getting close to Alcan.

[BelligerentTuna]

maybe this is a dumb question, but is the kelowna races still happening?


_t.

[Nook]

No one knows, including the organizers.


Right now they are having great difficulty controlling the fires, there are some 800 fires, and 4000 firefighters and soldiers trying to contain the blaze.


Even if the blaze is contained, there's still all the now-homeless people to look after.
The only thing to do is wait for the official word, which probably won't come until the last week before festival weekend.

Forest fires can be deadly, I've read about a flame front that travelled at 62 km/h because of winds,

A friend of mine was up there a couple weekends ago, there were about 4 or 6 waterbombers going in an endless circle. They'd go down to pick up water, swing out and drop the water within 30 seconds of pickup.  and then back again.

[DBWTim]

OK people, here's the latest update on the Kelowna Festival.. as of Tuesday, 26 August 2003 09:47:28 -0700

Hello Teams

I would just like to clear a couple things up.

1. Hotels are not canceling reservations to make room for evacuees. This has
not posed any problems.

2. As we mentioned before, in Friday's team email, the biggest Kelowna
Festival is still going ahead as planned, and the fires are not effecting
the race site whatsoever.

3. Any new information that comes to our attention will be forwarded to you
asap. We understand the situation of reservations and travel plans. As the
festival is 2 1/2 weeks away, we are hoping that the fires will be long gone
by then.

* Please, please, pretty please forward all information to your team members
as I am receiving at least a dozen emails or more every day (even today)
about the festival happening.

Thank-you very much for your attention. I will see you all at the Kelowna
races!

Kindest regards,

Diana Oddleifson
Race Registrar
Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival

[BelligerentTuna]

this may sound like an even dumber(er) question, but how far is it from here to kelowna? i'm tempted to go as a spectator.

@___@

_t

[KaBang]

Hmmm, like 4 hours......i think.  

[DBWTim]

Hey Guys,

Looks like Kelowna is a go

Hi Teams (please forward to your team members)

Thanks again for your concern. Please let everyone on your team know that the 2003 Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival is moving on full speed ahead. The Okanagan Mountain Fire, and the specific evacuation order is presently several km's away from downtown and the race site. Recent and prevailing wind patterns means it is not as smoky in town as the fire is far up in the mountains moving east and generally away from town.

With the fire situation as it is now, there is no reason to see it effecting our races. With the festival only a week away, we anticipate that everyone will have their team, accommodations, and transportation all organized and they should remain in order. Everything is still going ahead as planned.

A festival team information email will be going out soon, to inform you of schedules and events.

We will see you all in a week!

Diana Oddleifson
Race Registrar
Kelowna Dragon Boat Festival