SOARing to victory

These women fought breast cancer; now they compete as a dragon boat team

By Janie Nafsinger

Boom!, Dec 26, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Larry Melzer / for SOAR

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Rain. Wind. Brrr. That’s what you get on the Willamette River on a dreary winter morning. But the weather doesn’t faze the members of Team SOAR — Survivors on a River — a dragon boat team made up of women from their mid-20s to their late 70s who have survived breast cancer.

Here it is, 9:30 a.m. on a freezing Saturday, and a couple dozen women are doing warm-up exercises in the boathouse of the Portland-based Wasabi Paddling Club — the organization that Team SOAR belongs to — before heading down to the river for one of their thrice-weekly practices. Rain or shine, they usually show up.

Anita Scott, 76, of North Portland isn’t crazy about arising early on a cold, wet day. But, she says, “When I get on the water and I get on the boat and start paddling, I feel better. I’m proud of all of us for just doing what we’re doing.”

Marilyn Christie, 77, of Beaverton says she likes “the camaraderie, the exercise and the competition” she finds on Team SOAR. She used to walk in the Portland to Coast race as part of a team called “Sassy Survivors” until her niece, Mary Richardson, persuaded her to join Team SOAR. Richardson is also on the team.

Fran Palk, 69 — who lives 10 blocks from the boathouse on Southeast Water Avenue, by OMSI — has paddled on boats for 20 years. “You should see us paddle; we look like robots,” Palk says, laughing. “We’re all real active, and we all love our sport.”

Not all the team practices are outdoors; training also takes place at an indoor pool. But Marilyn Bullinger, 60, of Aloha will paddle on the river any time. “I like it no matter what the weather is; it’s very exciting,” she says.

“It’s very strenuous; it’s a very physical sport. You move every part of your body, and you have to be perfectly in time with the other 20 or 22 people in the boat.”

Bullinger sees Team SOAR not as a support group but as “kind of a diversion” for breast cancer survivors. Most of the time, she says, “we don’t focus on or discuss health issues. We’ve put the word ‘cancer’ behind us.”

The award-winning team, formed about six years ago, is one of eight competitive teams in the Wasabi club, devoted to paddling and racing in dragon boats and outrigger canoes.

Members of Team SOAR don’t have to be athletes. They just need to love water and have a willingness to learn. SOAR has a two-fold purpose: to support breast cancer survivors in their recovery and promote dragon boating as a way to get in shape; and to maintain the team’s standing as a national dragon-boating champion in the breast cancer division.

“Dragon boating is a fast-growing support,” Bullinger says.

Likewise, the number of breast cancer dragon boat teams is increasing worldwide. Team SOAR races in local, national and international dragon boat events. Team members, who pay their own expenses, traveled to competitions in Cape Town, South Africa, and Shanghai, China, both in 2004, and Brisbane, Australia, in 2006. Two or three times a year the team also goes to Vancouver, British Columbia, where it won a gold medal in June.  

“They’ve had a gold medal in every race they’ve run,” says Corky Lai, who became Team SOAR’s coach this year.

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