The 2007 Toronto Island date is out. They're moving it to the middle of the month. Could it be fear of competing with Ottawa's race which is scheduled for the week after?

Doesn't matter. We're not going anyway. The Island continues to suck

there are a lot of other reasons why the event could be mid-month, chinese calander, other events at the island, sharifa's hair appointments, etc.

does anybody listen anymore....Sharifa has left the TCBA.
She has her money.

Yup she has 19 millions bucks!

Huh? How do you figure that?

Ottawa has become the gold standard. It’s the biggest event in the province, if not the country. It's also the most well-run and paddler-friendly of the big festivals. The organizers "get it" that their festival is strengthened when they listen to and act on paddler feedback.

TIDBF seems to be trying to change. But the political nature of an organization like TCBA can slow the process. I hope TCBA are beginning to grasp the connection between running a competitive, racer-friendly event and the long-term health of their festival (along with all its other cultural and cross-cultural objectives). More than the date has to change for TIDBF to recover.

Ottawa already had great momentum. With the ability to attract teams from Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Northern Ontario it might wind up as the most competitive festival of 2007...

Old debate but I'll wade in one more time. Ottawa's hardly the gold standard with most of the teams disappearing the second day and the races so far out you can't see them. It's OK. That's all. It's kind of sterile if you ask me. Last year they were probably more competitive than the Island. But it was the first time. And below 'A' division, the Island is still more competitive.

Each to his own. Go to Ottawa if you like it. Toronto, Montreal, Sudbury, even the totally lane-biased GWN are all way more fun.

This may have an interesting impact on the rest of the festivals in Ontario during June. Pickering is one short week before Island, and this may fall squarely on the weekend of the well-run Stouffville event.

What I don't understand is how we can have so many great festivals to choose from in June, and only a couple of decent ones in August?

It's tradition. The dragon boats are run in June in China. If you want to have more races in Aug, you'll have to pressure the local organizers to get some going.

In past years the island was deeper, but not this year (go ahead and compare the top 20). And if by "sterile" you mean not covered in bird **** then I'm in complete agreement. I think Ottawa's venue was great. Sitting on that sandy beach I had no trouble watching races.

Ottawa is still really not that competitive, and the organizers will confess that they don't really have interest in competitive teams. Officiating is weak.

Most competitive events in the east in 2006 (judging by number of high calibre teams - CCWC not included):

1) Pickering
2) Q. Cup
3) GWN
4) Island
5) Montreal
6) Ottawa

Okay then, lets REALLY compare. Here are the top two divisions (16 teams) from Ottawa and the top 16 from this year's TIDBF.

2006 Ottawa Top 16:
1. Canadian Senior Dragonboat Club
2. Dragon Beasts
3. SCC Chiro
4. TELUS Phoenixes
5. Big Fish
6. Phoenix ETS
7. Collingwood Side Launchers
8. Paddle Demons
9. Cascades Grand Masters
10. Bytown Paddlers
11. Wongs Immortal Dragons
12. RBC Comets
13. SCC Dragons
14. Verdun-Express
15. Gung Ho
16. Nepean Masters


2006 TIDBF Top 16:
1. Scotia Rouge
2. Imps
3. Miami DBC
4. SRS
5. Hydrophibic Dragons
6. Shogun
7. St. Joes
8. UofT NC
9. UofT UC
10. CIBC
11. Old Skul'd
12. Komodo Dragons
13. Pittsburg Paddlefish
14. NY Wall Street Dragons
15. The Blades
16. GSK Firedragons


Does TIDBF 2006 really look deeper?

Not to me.

How funny is the comment that the organizers are not interested in the competitive teams? Having spoken to the organizers I have found they are very interested in the competitive teams and have made numerous changes to attract us. Changing to BUK boats was the first step two years ago. If you do not believe me, call them yourself to understand what they are trying to do. Rumour has it they are also changing the format for Sunday in 2007. The competition last year was intense and the weekend a pleasure to attend.

I hear Ottawa is getting more competitive bringing more teams into the second day and re-structuring Sunday to allow for more finals.

Ottawa was nice that it gave you so many races, but the problem was that so many of them were meaningless. They need to structure it better so that you are racing your direct competition sooner.

We raced and raced and raced only to discover that if we had put in one good time we could have dogged it the races and still been in the same grouping.

I like tune-up races as much as the next guy (meaning: I don't really. why blow your brains out 7 times when you can do the same amount of damage in 4 tries?). So get the teams racing other teams of the same competitive level earlier in the regatta.

Other than that, it was a good time.

Well regardless most teams will gravitate towards the Islands. Hopefully something better will challenge it within the city at the same time. Perhaps a festival at the CCWC site.

TIDBRF will make a come back.
Ottawa is simply too far for most toronto based crews.
Go away one year, because your mad ok, but don't turn a blind eye to the improvements that they have started to make.

TIDBRF, despite a lower turnout then in previous years, have improved on their medal situation. I had to say it since that's all you guys care about.

Phuckers!

Its too bad that just the Toronto teams will go to the festival. If you are not part of the GTA, you do not qualify for tickets to HK. Gee I wonder why very few out of town teams go to this festival?

The TIDBRF organizers are a bunch of wankers in this respect. Get rid of the conditional Toronto area rule for the tickets

It sucks for out of towners but there is a reason. Tour East gives the tickets and it is for company promotion. They derive no benefit if an out of town team wins. When a team from Toronto wins, the company gains good will and positive word of mouth in the Toronto area. It's that simple. If you want to make the tickets avaialble to out of towners, either pony up the tickets yourself, or make a case to Tour East to include your region.

Ottawa works hard to try and attract competative crews. The claim that they haven't is a straight out lie.

The boycott of the island extends much further than teams picking Ottawa. Look at Pickering and GWN attendance - both with serious lane issues. I think some of the competative crews will continue to make the trips out to Ottawa and Montreal because it is fun. Whether they also return to the island remains to be seen, but they have lots of options to choose from and hardware isn't going to attract top crews.

"Its too bad that just the Toronto teams will go to the festival. If you are not part of the GTA, you do not qualify for tickets to HK. Gee I wonder why very few out of town teams go to this festival?"


Does Ottawa award tickets to Hong Kong? Does Pickering award tickets to Hong Kong? Aside from Toronto and Sudbury, do any festivals in Ontario award a prize of significant monetary value?

The Hong Kong prize thing is not the issue, but a few of you like to throw it out here like it is the only reason the TIDBRF doesn't attract more out of town teams.

There are other, better reasons why out of towners don't attend TIDBRF. I would think the expense would be chief among them. Nothing else required, and certainly not the Hong Kong smokescreen.

Our team never even knew Toronto offered tickets to Hong Kong. We choose not to attend purely based on how bad an experience from race to location to event activities onsite a few years back. A trip around the world would not change our minds.

Yeah right.

The HK tickets are besides the point. The vast majority of teams know they have no chance at winning those. And the cost of the Island, and comparisons to the cost of travelling to Ottawa, is also besides the point. Quality of experience is THE issue.

The prize is huge and the Island is way more fun. Wouldn't miss it. Ottawa is boring. To me. "Quality", I guess, in the eye of the paddler. I'd rather travel to Montreal or Sudbury, but if you would rather go to Ottawa, knock yourself out.

When was the last you have been?

Twice in th last 4 years.

Man, this discussion is painful. I think we've already established that the island has changed dates, so this is no longer and either/or decision.

I hope both events do well.

I've said already that I like what they're doing in Ottawa, but I also hope the Island can regain its status as one of the premier events in North America. Toronto should have an event like that.