From the DBC website:

2009 Canadian National Championships - Montreal

These will be held Aug 22-23 in the Olympic Basin.

All 2010 Club Crew World Championship Entries will be awarded at the Canadian Nationals.
The 2009 CCWC Protocol is currently being revised.

Contact the DBC Office for more information.

What a crazy date to choose considering many of the best will be on their way to Prague.

World Club Crews are limited to the number of National level paddlers they can have. This date will ensure this rule is in place.

Cash grab too. Wonder how much more expensive it will be?
Wish I invented Dragon Boat Canada.

Why don't you get involved then?

Either we pay our money to GWN or DBC.

This was announced at the AGM 2 years ago.

This will also likely ensure that there will be fewer western teams going to the CCWC as well seeing as it will be harder for them to get to the qualifier.

Such a large country, what happened to the regionals?

Who is the ad wizard that came up with this one?

The old rule was working just fine. 1 for each region and 2 wild cards from the national championships. Someone from DBC explain just what was wrong with this setup.

"This will also likely ensure that there will be fewer western teams going to the CCWC as well seeing as it will be harder for them to get to the qualifier."

Let's be honest. The best crews in the country are based in the GTA and until some crews from out west come here and beat the best in the GTA, this is probably the best system. I am sure that is what DBC had in mind with the qualifier.

Okay West Coasters (and Eastern Canadians for that matter), take a deep breath. That last guy was just trying to bait you into some useless Toronto bashing. Don't rise to it, don't give him the time.

I think the idea of having all the CCWC spots decided at a single regatta is a bad one. It's unfair to anyone not from the region where the race was held.

There are some very good teams in B.C. Should they be expected to travel to Montreal for ANY shot at the Club Crews? I don't think so. And what happens when this regatta shifts back to the west? Should the Beasts, Verdun, Mayfair, etc, be expected to fly out to B.C. for their ONLY opportunity to get a club crew sanction? I disagree with that as well.

Keep one sanction to be determined locally and then give out what's left at the Nationals. It was a great solution. I waiting to hear why it was dropped.

so many short memories.

On any given year 1-2 of these local race-offs were blown because organization was not up to par.

"On any given year 1-2 of these local race-offs were blown because organization was not up to par."

So your solution to "blown" local race-offs is to scrap them altogether and force teams to throw away money on travel.

Cost of travel is huge. Forcing teams to travel twice (once to qualify and then once to compete) is not the answer. Even more teams who win sanctions won't go the actual Club Crews because their budgets have already been stretched too far.

Improving the quality of local race-offs is a much better option, IMO.

I believe that it is once again going to weaken the field by not allowing qualifiers from different regions to hold their own. Afterall its called Club Crews and is supposed to be representing your CLUB not your COUNTRY.

Have a west, central and east qualifiers to get all CLUBS the chance to earn a berth. Why the powers that be would do it any other way is ludicrous.

There should be regional race-offs.

Anything else is silly as you just won't get the top teams willing to both travel for the race off, then the CCWC.

I agree. I think many teams will just opt out of the whole DBC-IDBF thing because of money and stick to local domestic racing at good quality festivals.

Some will pass and others will step into their place.

I like it. I think it builds up Nationals. Every region gets its turn. And crews that are serious enough about qualifying will do the travel (like Chiro, IMPS and Piranhas did by flying to Calgary last year).

As was the case last year, some teams avoided having to go up against better competition in their own regions, knowing they would probably not win a berth. They then went to Calgary and competed in a weaker field. The end result was that some teams that didn't deserve a berth were able to sneek in the back door.

Let's get the best together. Race at nationals. Top 5 crews go. If you can't afford to go to nationals, chances are you can't put a crew together for worlds.

On the flip side, this also prevents all-star crews. Won't be able to bolster your crew for a local race off and send no-one to worlds.

"If you can't afford to go to nationals, chances are you can't put a crew together for worlds."

Of course! Because we all know the defining quality of a top notch crew is big bags of money.

What it does guarantee is that Canada's CC's will be represented by the 2nd tier for crews, as the top tier will have the majority of their people in Prague, or preparing for Prague.

Very poor decision and it makes you wonder what could they be thinking.

Could be that 'they' want true Club Crews not National crews - different competitions therefore different crews.

Having nationals a week before Prague was the only weekend available at the Montreal Basin.

whatever - there are other racecourses. DBC is notorious for scheduling nationals to lock out certain groups of paddlers. This is nothing new.

You're right. We should be scheduling everything around flatwater.

dummy.

huh?

hey winny...are you on Mayfair, False Creek.
If not - why would you care who qualifies for the "Club Crew" worlds.

As a paddler who will be racing in Prague and is also a member of one of the top 3 crews (False Creek, Mayfair, Beasts) I think too much is being made of this conflict.

I really doubt that any of these 3 crews have intentions of racing at the CCWCs in Macau. I know our crew might have raced in the trials if it didn't conflict with our travel plans to Prague, but I really doubt that we would have opted to go to Macau.

There are some very good club crews from Canada beyond the 3 listed above, and I think it is great that they'll have the opportunity to race for the opportunity to represent Canada, and I'm sure that whoever qualifies will do very well in Macau.

For the person who believes that jet lag is a non-issue, you're a much stronger person than I am. Even if there is a minimal impact, the level of competition is going to be so high in Prague, that I don't want my crew to do anything that might have even a minor impact on our performance.

FCRCC will be sending a team to Prague as well as a full second crew to Montreal. Training is already on the go.

w00t, I think competition will be tough enough. Chiro's were a very close second to Mayfair last time, Hydro's breathing down Mayfair's back this season, Gorging will always be in play. That's tough enough for the podium in Macau already. The real question now is how the Canadian paddlers will respond to the tougher competition in the open and women's divisions. I'll give credit to the teams that went to Penang that they were great teams, however, we'll all have to bring it up a notch to get more podium finishes.

"Let's get the best together. Race at nationals. Top 5 crews go. If you can't afford to go to nationals, chances are you can't put a crew together for worlds."

Or, realistically, if you pay to fly in for the nationals you won't be able to get people willing to pay for the worlds as well.

It's not a crazy commitment to ask people to pay for one expensive trip to attend a world event, but it is crazy to ask them to pay for 2 expensive trips in back to back years.

realistically, if you're in the east you only need to fork out to go out west once every 6 years if all you care about is qualifying.

If you're from the west you need to fork out 2x in 6 years to qualify.

really not that bad...

I agree with the poster who said jet lag is a factor and especially in Prague as it will be very competitive.

To the poster talking about only those who are serious/can AFFORD to go are the best? Makes me once again wonder where peoples brains are in this sport. Do you have any idea how many of the best paddlers have stepped away after many years of getting the best results for Canada because of the expense?

What are we going to end up with? Only those who can afford to go and think they know how to compete and win because they all have matching paddle bags and gloves?

Then again... sport is all about choice.

Why on earth would I want to support an athlete financially? what does that give me? A blip on my TV screen every 4 years. Whatever.

As long as sport has existed finances have been problem. DB still has nothing on the thousands that ever kid in competitive Pee wee and bantam hockey have to shell out. Should we be paying thousands to every amateur athlete in every sport in this country?

The reality is in dragon boat you have to pay your way. it will always be that way.

<<The reality is in dragon boat you have to pay your way. it will always be that way.>>

Really? The US sent its best possible Premier Open squad to Sydney by finding sponsorship. Canada dropped the ball and sent an inferior team.

The future of fundraising should be very interesting considering the financial condition the world is in right now.

then why don't you find the sponsorship?

The serious question to ask is, what does the sponsor get for $50,000.

logos on T-Shirts and warm fuzzy don't count.

"Could be that 'they' want true Club Crews not National crews"

I think that all qualifying crews have to meet the rules set out by DBC, except certain grandmaster teams. Otherwise, all crews should meet the DBC club crew rules.