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Page 3 of 4
"It’s the most extraordinary phenomenon," Miller says.
Another extraordinary phenomenon is the way the communities of Pemberton and Mount Currie came together after this year’s races in Vancouver.
Fisher says he compared the Eagles’ times with those of other boats and decided to ask if the team could represent Canada at the world championships in Philadelphia.
"The team was performing at a very high level," he reasons. "But I didn’t really expect that we’d actually go."
The main reason was because of cost – $30,000 to be exact.
"Alcan (the main sponsor of the Vancouver festival) couldn’t give us any money," Fisher says. "So we went back to Pemberton hoping we could find some corporate sponsors."
That’s where Pemberton Mayor Elinor Warner and Gerry Mohs come into the picture.
"Gerry came up to me and quietly said ‘We’re going to get you there’ and I thought ‘Yeah, right,’" says Fisher. "Then he called the next day and said he had $30,000.
"I was astounded. I had to pick up my jaw off the floor."
Three local logging companies came forward to guarantee the funds until further money could be raised.
"It just snowballed from there and the money kept rolling in," says Fisher.
The response was overwhelming – more than $80,000 was eventually raised to fly the Eagles to Philly. Almost every business in the community contributed.
Mayor Warner says the team, not the fund-raisers, sold themselves. "They’re a pretty skookum group of kids," she says. "And they’re great ambassadors for Pemberton."
"Even people with no kids on the team were giving us money," Fisher says. "And no one in Pemberton is really very wealthy."
"The kids on the team represent every single type of family in Pemberton: farmers, loggers, newcomers and First Nations," says Miller.
In Philadelphia, the Eagles lost their first race – the 250-metre competition – to the German junior national team by less than 40 centimetres. "That’s a fraction of a canoe stroke," says Fisher.
The team came up short in their next race – the 500-metre competition – to the Germans once again, this time by one-third of a boat length.
So the Laoyam Eagles have two gold and two silver to show for their summer of paddling, just like the sun and clouds that hang in the sky above One Mile Lake. Not too bad for a dragon boat team from a small town in the mountains that practices in a canoe in all kinds of weather.
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