The Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival will return to a two-day event in 2025, while a new event at Westwood Lake will keep local paddlers busy this summer. (Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival)

By Alex Rawnsley

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New event & returning a returning favourite helping grow Nanaimo paddling scene

Mar 24, 2025 | 5:30 AM

NANAIMO — After a bleak 2024 paddle season was salvaged at the 11th hour, this summer is looking extremely busy for local paddlers.

Victoria’s Fairway Gorge Paddling Club will return to host the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival, part of their Island Race Series on July 12 and 13 along the Nanaimo waterfront.

Fairway race director Erik Ages says they’re thrilled to return after taking over hosting last minute in 2023, but having to step back from hosting, due to operational costs in 2024.

“We knew what we were up against [in 2023], but we had that government backing during that post COVID transition, then last year that that money was not there anymore. We have worked really, really hard over this last year, we bought ourselves some time hosting that event just one year in Victoria to sort of cut costs…to develop a local committee.

The Nanaimo Paddling Centre will serve as a boots on the ground force to help the long-term viability of the local festival.

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Ages said the move is about ensuring the event can run smoothly every year.

“They’re back and operational and working to support that festival, and we’ve also been working with the local Nanaimo community for sponsorships that are not government funded. They are local businesses in Nanaimo that are stepping up and adding some safety around some of the costs of putting on large events like this.”

Early bird registration for teams closes April 15, and Ages said early indications of interest in the event are positive.

Adding to the calendar
New this year will be an event hosted by VI Paddling at Westwood Lake on July 19 and 20.

The group stepped up and saved the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival in 2024, hosting a one-day series of races to ensure the tradition continued.

Club president Tom Arnold said their new Westwood Lake Dragon Boat Regatta will offer a great environment for local and regional paddlers.

“What Westwood lake offers…is a really fair course. It’s such a beautiful waterway up there, it’s protected, it’s deep, so you don’t have a lot of the challenges of sand bars and boat traffic and ocean waves that you sometimes have at other courses.”

Planning is still underway, with the club only announcing a ‘save the date’ last week.

Arnold said they knew of Fairway’s return to hosting the traditional festival along the waterfront, and opted to add to the scene rather than compete.

“It was an opportunity to build a high quality racing event for Nanaimo, that complements what’s been in the city in the past. It’s a opportunity to offer an event with beach launches, which is a bit of a different experience for a lot of paddlers.”

He said interest is “starting to come back” to the sport after the rough 2024 locally, as the club has grown in Nanaimo.

“We established our own club site at Townsite Marina in Nanaimo, we now have both big boats (20 paddlers) and small boats (10 paddlers). We’ve been offering some new programs to get new people into the sport there. So we’re starting to see an uptick.”

Further details on the Westwood Lake Regatta will be released later this spring.

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