The weekend will bring exciting entertainment as 36 crews will compete in a dragon boat pentathlon.

The 2025 Vancouver Island Dragon Boat Festival will be launching in Victoria’s Gorge waterway on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24; Fairway Gorge Paddling Club hosts the event.

“We’ve never had the percentage of visiting teams come to this festival before,” said general manager of Fairway Gorge Paddling Club and Dragon Boat festival race director, Erik Ages.

“They’re coming from far and wide. We have teams from California, Oregon, Washington, and Toronto.”

Ages says that due to the recent Air Canada labour strike, the Toronto team made the journey out to the Island by driving to compete at the festival.

For the festival, paddlers will be facing a challenging pentathlon, a race comprising five differe

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