The co-ordination of 20 paddlers makes it an ideal activity for team building.

With that in mind, the six boats which arrive in Trinidad in early July have been sponsored by companies: Century Eslon Ltd., Digicel TnT Limited, Excellent Stores Limited, Guardian Holdings Limited, The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited and Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Limited.

These companies, as well as other interested teams, will be entitled to schedule two free training sessions for their members who are interested in learning and participating in the sport and the 200th anniversary races.

Registration is now open for other corporate organisations, sporting clubs and groups to enter the Dragon Boat Races, with teams of 22, planned for October 12.

Franco Siu Chong, who heads the committee to organise the Dragon Boat Races said: “Our intention was to commemorate the anniversary with an original Chinese sport, but not to limit it to Chinese or Chinese descendants in Trinidad.”

“This is an exciting healthy water sport that we are hoping will attract young persons who may be looking for social activity, with elements of team building and competition.”

He said that he was happy to have corporate sponsors with large staff numbers; and they will be encouraged to get their athletic employees involved in the sport.

Siu Chong said that the move to bring Dragon Boat Racing to Trinidad and Tobago has already attracted international attention.

Within the next few weeks, a coach will be visiting to kick off the training sessions, and he hopes to have an international exhibition team on the day of the Festival.

The International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF, founded in 1991) has already invited the Dragon Boat Association of Trinidad and Tobago to become a member of the global body, and to be the catalyst for Dragon Boat Racing in the Caribbean islands.

They are interested in participating in races here in the near future.

The boats are to be housed at The Kayak Centre in Chaguaramas, and races will take place in the water between ALCOA at Tembladora and the Kayak Centre.

Legend has it that the Dragon Boat Festival in China commemorates the death of a national hero, Chu Yuan, who drowned himself in the Mi Lo River to protest the corruption of the rulers at the time.

Chu Yuan had many fine qualities, but foremost among them was a desire to be a poet, which made him an example of rectitude in an epoch troubled by widespread corruption that extended even as far as the king.

Because he was incapable of persuading the king to mend his ways.

Chu Yuan tied an enormous rock around himself and threw himself into the waters of Tung Tin Lake in Hunan Province.

Although many attempts were made, his body was never found.

Much later, his ghost was seen in the spot where he drowned, moaning that Chu Yuan had been devoured by monstrous water creatures.

Today, the dragon boats competition honours the distant memory of an upright and honest statesman.

Participants sit two abreast, with a steersman at the stern and a drummer at the bow.

The paddlers race to reach the finishing line, urged on by the pounding drums and the roar of the crowds.