The 2009 world's are being shifted from Poznan to Prague. There was a conflict with the World Rowing Championships.

While this is great (a chance to visit Prague), I can't understand how it could happen. I just checked the International Rowing Federation website, and they've got the dates and locations of their world championships posted up to 2011. Same for the ICF.

How could the IDBF announce they were having their worlds in Poznan at the same time as the rowing worlds were being held there? Did the IDBF talk to the local organizers? Did the local organizers not know the rowers were coming?

What IDBF? And aren't we having the championships in some Florida swamp in a couple of years??

Tampa a swamp? Is it still snow covered in Toronto? That is about the equivalent of your stupidity.

Tampa is a glorified swamp. That whole city runs on hype, and the IDBF took the bait.

As for Prague/Poznan: it would be interesting to find out how the IDBF didn't know about the Rowing conflict, but Prague is a WAY better place to be, so it actually worked out.

What's interesting is that the 2009 Worlds were supposed to be in Moscow! Then they were shifted to Poznan, and now Prague.

Tampa is an awesome and fair venue! Everyone loves it except the poster on this thread! Can only assume his paddling skills are better than his IQ.

You're both mistaken. The Worlds in Tampa are not going to be held on the same course where previous Tampa races were held because the usual course is too narrow. The Worlds course will be nearby, but in a location where spectators will not be able to get a decent view of the races unless the city is planning on building something new along the course.

IDBF = International Drunken Blonde Federation. When will they make up their minds on where to have these worlds. For all I know, they might switch it next week to Antarctica, then realize everything is frozen down there. then the next week switch it to the Sahara desert and they'll say "**** not again".

Spectators in Tampa? The Tampa Rays (Tampa's Major League Baseball team) is pretty much tied for first place with the Red Sox, yet the Rays are averaging just 20,000 fans per game. How many spectators do you think will show up for dragon boat racing in Tampa?

Poznan has already had the world's and the Poles are not as involved in international Dragon Boat as the Czechs are.

Praha is supposed to be a beautiful city and the idbf website http://www.idbf.org/news/2008-06-C.php says that the 2k is most likely going to be held in the centre of Praha by the famous Charles Bridge which is a beautiful landmark.

Really I would much rather go to the Czech Republic than to Poland, which really has nothing to offer. I look forward to the trip to the Czech Republic, much more than Poland.

Prague will be great , beautiful city , lots of history etc.
Pozan would have been good as well , I was looking forward to Polland. Last worlds in Pozan were a lot of fun , friendly people , great beer , wonderful course cheap currancy.

When Moscow couldn't guarantee the funding to ensure a successful World Championship in 2009 and withdrew its location, IDBF went back to the other sites that bid. Poznan & Prague were both backup sites. Poznan had proven to be a great site and well-organized, having held the Worlds in 2003 (remember, it was postponed due to the SARS outbreak). Prague held the European Club Crew Championships in 2006, so had had a large championship relatively recently.

In fairness and to ensure a good, proven location of World Championship class, the IDBF went first to Poznan to see if they could hold the championship. Poznan said yes provisionally - except the dates were a problem due to the rowing championship, so another good, proven location was sought, and found, in Prague. The change in location has nothing to do with IDBF not knowing the dates, as the IDBF WC date had been set long ago (when Moscow was originally supposed to host the championship). The problem was in finding a good site that could accommodate the set dates, not in finding good dates.

By the way, I was at the ECCC in 2006. It was a well-organized, well-attended event on a good course. There was plenty of excellent competition, especially from the strong Eastern European teams (and a hard-paddling, but outclassed, friendly little team of good sports from Toronto!).

Prague is beautiful. There's nothing quite like doing a 2K in the center of the historic city! And... the Czechs know how to throw a good party!

See you there!

I don't think anyone is questioning the ability of Prague to host the championships, and we're all looking forward to it.

The question was how could the IDBF announce that the world's would be held in Poznan at the same time as the rowing world championships? Who wasn't paying attention... the IDBF, the local Poznan organizers? Or did they just assume the rowers would agree to move elsewhere so that the dragonboaters could use the facility?

<<Poznan said yes provisionally - except the dates were a problem due to the rowing championship,>>

So why did the IDBF announce that the Worlds would be held in Poznan if it was known that the rowing championships were going to be held at the same time? Very odd.

It's the Poles who screwed up. You can expect IDBF to keep track of other sports' annual championship dates. Maybe canoeing and outrigging but certainly not rowing.

"Who wasn't paying attention... the IDBF, the local Poznan organizers?"

Probably a bit of both: Poland, who was eager to host and assumed the IDBF would move the dates of the DB championships to work around rowing, and IDBF who, when Poland expressed interest in hosting, was in a hurry to secure a proven championship location so that paddlers (and the organizing committee) could make arrangements as far in advance as possible.

Considering that it's nearly impossible to purchase plane tickets more than a year in advance, what was the rush?

Generally speaking, Canadians are the most high maintenance group in the IDBF

Canadians probably expect the IDBF to function at the same level as other international sports organizations, and haven't yet realized that the IDBF is far less organized and sophisticated.

F the IDBF. Time for them to step aside and let the ICF take over.

The best part is, in the ICF's minds they have taken over.

Seriously, CKC and the ICF are running DB in their minds. The product their offering is what we'll get.

Not to impressive.

"Generally speaking, Canadians are the most high maintenance group in the IDBF"

Agreed. Very full of their own self importance on the world stage.

The ICF, as a whole, is not really interested in dragon boating. There is a small faction within the ICF that is interested in dragon boating, that's all.

I think the ICF has their hands full trying to manage sports within their framework that want into the olympics, like canoe polo or canoe sailing.

This means doing away with flatwater and whitewater events.

DB would be a huge problem for them.

IFC who? What do they have to do with dragonboating? Some Canadians are sooooo out of touch.

Nothing! That's the chuckle and the reality of it all. The international sport community through GAISF and hence the IOC have already decided that dragon boating is not canoeing and vise versa and that the IdBF represents dragon boating and the ICF represents canoe-kayak. Full stop.
So, ICF dragon boat activity, largely in Europe, is just for fun for some of their members. The only issue outstanding is that ICF likes calling their little dragon boat events "world champinships" which is a bit ridiculous so the two groups are bickering about that. The few ICF types who are still waving the dragon boat flag are beating a dead horse. Same with CKC here in Canada.

"The few ICF types who are still waving the dragon boat flag are beating a dead horse."

Good example why dragon boating won't go far under ICF. A dead horse is too heavy for the front of the boat. Doesn't resonate well either. Why don't they beat a drum like the rest of us? And why are they waving a flag? Are they doing flag catching races too? Or do they think they're majorettes?

The question was how could the IDBF announce that the world's would be held in Poznan at the same time as the rowing world championships?
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What a 1/2 assed organization the IDBF is.

Say all you want about the ICF but it is a finely tuned machine that would not make such monumental screw ups.

monumental screw-up?

Every day they try and promote dragon boat they dirty the organization through their incompetence.
80-90% of CKC members can't believe what's coming out of the CKC office.

Do you really think that CKC members spend a lot of time worrying about the CKC position re dragon boat???

See page 16 of the Road to Excellence strategic plan (link below) or the recent Sport Canada SFAF evaluation... Sprint canoe/kayak is one of the top ranked sports in Canada heading into the Olympics.

http://www.sportmatters.ca/Groups/SMG%20Resources/Sport%20and%20PA%20Policy/2006-%20Road_to_Excellence.pdf

I know that dragon boat claims to be the fastest growing sport in the world... type "fastest growing sport in the world" into your browser, and you get:

- NASCAR
- Lacrosse
- Appliance golf (?)
- Geocaching
- Bull riding

I love dragon boat and sprint canoe/kayak, and I don't see why people who only do dragon boat feel the need to attack CKC or believe that CKC is fixated on competing with DBC!

no one is saying CKC cares about dragon boat but they do care about the sport canada funding that may come with controlling the membership

Sport Canada funding is based on performance, not membership. There are some other sources of funding based on head count, but adding a bunch of dragon boaters will only increase Sport Canada funding if some of them turn out to be medal potential flatwater paddlers... The demographics of dragon boat makes this unlikely, since most flatwater paddlers who excel start before they are teenagers.

However, there have been outrigger, marathon, and surf ski paddlers in other countries who have switched to flatwater and been world championship finalists.

Looks like Premier Open will be represented by "East meets West" or rather False Creek and company . Rip the Fondue pulled out by the sounds of things .

What about Seniore and Grand Masters?

(BTW, I don't get this Grand Masters thing. Do we really need a 50+ division???)

Sport Canada funding is based on performance, not membership.
________________________________________________

Someone who knows what they are talking about!

Funding for coaching module development, funding for officials training, funding for sending teams to ICF dragon boat world championships. So, not just for developing Olympic athletes. CKC has already defrauded money for these initiatives from the feds.

I wouldn't say CKC committed fraud but certainly misrepresented to Sport Canada that they govern dragon boat in this country. Also, I would say that this is not so bad that they received money for coaching classes and such things but I heard they tried to interfere with dragon boat canada's trillium grant which is a definate snake in the grass move. I say get what you can from whoever or whatever is funding paddlesport and mind your own freakin' business CKC and DBC.
But CKC should come clean with Sport Canada and let them know they have no involvment in governance of dragon boat in this country. That said I'm pretty sure Sport Canada knows this but is cow-towing to CKC to support their good chances in China next month.

I guess the prior message wasn't clear.

Sport Canada deals with high performance sport, and funds CKC to support performance at the flatwater world championships and Olympics.

Sport Canada isn't interested in dragon boat, and doesn't fund CKC for dragon boat activity.

If you're concerned that CKC received funding for dragon boat related activities, don't blame Sport Canada.

CKC is primarily funded by Sport Canada. If CKC subsequently channels funds into dragon boat activity like they have done in 2007 and 2008 then Sport Canada is funding dragon boat through CKC allbeit at arms length.
And they should mind their own freakin' business regarding DBC's funding efforts.

Sport Canada spends our tax dollars. To get to the bottom of this, citizens should ask their local MP's for a transparent accounting of this. If you really want action, get your local newspaper reporters on this.

Is Sport Canada funding, directly or indirectly funnelled through CKC, going to Dragon Boating, which CKC knows, or ought to know, is governed by DBC in this country according to GAISF, of which CKC is a member?

CKC will say that they are spending money which comes from the canoe clubs, not sport canada funding. If so, they should be able to present accounting figures showing this to government officials and newspaper reporters. Who pays the salaries of CKC staff, for example, while they work on dragon boat?

Simple questions about our tax dollars. What CKC needs to understand is, given the number of dragonboat paddlers, someone is going to be asking the questions and looking into this.

Why would you complain about where the money for DB comes from when we all agree there should be more funding?

The only grievance is that CKC decided to contact a funding agency that was handing DBC a cheque and put into question the legitimacy of DBC as a sport organization. I agree all organizations should go after any source of money that is out there but CKC crossed the line when they interfered with DBC's efforts to gather a piece of that pie so to speak.

My opinion is that the money the CKC spent of Dragon Boat was wasted and would have been better spent on programs under it's mandate. My issue is whether they are wasting my money - I'm a taxpayer too!

Is CKC like KFC?

Yeah. Same menu, same coloured bucket. Just look for the maple leaf instead of the picture of Col. Sanders.