Our Festival

Survivors Abreast is proud host of

Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival

Peterborough’s annual Dragon Boat Festival (PDBF) is a fantastic one day event hosted by Survivors Abreast Peterborough Dragon Boat team. When it started in 2001, it was quickly embraced by the community and has grown rapidly from about 34 teams to 80 corporate and community teams participating each year.

PDBF is an opportunity for the community at large to participate in a fun day of dragon boating which is an exciting and rewarding water sport that emphasizes team building and encourages health and wellbeing.

The event is organized by a dedicated group of volunteers, many of whom are Survivors Abreast team members. The festival committee rallies the community and local businesses to participate, sponsor, volunteer and donate because in addition to being a great day on the water, PDBF is first and foremost a fundraiser for breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC).

Since 2001, over $4.2 million has been raised, supporting the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment that has enhanced breast cancer detection, treatment, and care at PRHC. Here’s A bit of history on how it all began and what has been accomplished.

Of course, none of this would have been possible were it not for the generous spirit of giving in our community and the joint efforts of our sponsors, volunteers, enthusiastic paddlers and donors.

We celebrated our 20th Anniversary in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic with a virtual festival and had a fantastic response raising $95,568.43!

2023 was a record-breaking year for Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival as we celebrated our single largest donation in Festival history with a cheque for $290,025.18 going towards equipment to screen, diagnose and treat breast and other cancers at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC). We also reached a significant milestone as we surpassed the $4 million-dollar mark in total donations over the last 22 years.

We look forward to building on that momentum this year as we host our 23rd event on June 8, 2024.

Visit www.ptbodragonboat.ca to register!