Teams from across US battle in ancient form of racing at Shawnee Mission Park

What has 44 arms, a drum and the head of a dragon?

No it’s not a large heavy metal band.

Those are some of the major components of a dragon boat and its crew.

Nearly two dozen dragon boat crews from across the country were on hand Saturday to compete in the inaugural KC Dragon Boat Festival at Shawnee Mission Park .

Dragon boat racing is all about teamwork. Crews made of 20 paddlers, each with a single paddle that is not attached to the boat, sit side by side facing forward in the long boats. Those paddlers are paced by a drummer who sits at the bow of the boat while straddling a drum and looking back toward the rowers. The drummer pounds out a beat and shouts out orders to keep the paddlers synchronized and moving at a swift pace as they dig their paddles into the water for each 500 meter sprint. A steerer stands at the stern of the boat and guides the direction of the boat with the steering oar.

The boats all have a carved likeness of a dragon’s head on their bow. The ornamentation is a part of the tradition of dragon boat racing which originated in China more than 2,000 years ago.

Teams at Saturday’s event weren’t required to provide their own boats or steerers. Team entry fees paid for the services of an event production company that provided the boats, experienced steerers, paddles and life jackets to all of the teams registered for the festival

The event was sponsored by KC Pink Warriors , a local dragon boat team comprised of women who are all cancer survivors. The team has its own boat and trains year round.

Here are photos from Saturday’s festival.

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