The team was the brainchild of Dr. Donald McKenzie, director of the applied physiology laboratory at UBC's Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre and principal investigator in the breast-cancer study series. McKenzie, a former competitive kayaker, also works with the Canadian Olympic kayaking team as a coach and physician.
The breast-cancer survivors began 2 months of weight training in February, then hit the water in April. They practised twice weekly until June with a quartet of coaches, including McKenzie, project researcher Diana Jespersen, Dr. Sue Buchan and Dr. Drew Mitchell.
The team exceeded McKenzie's expectation "that they would not be competitive"; the goal was simply to try to complete the 300-m course in the heavy, 700-kg boat.
In some of their six races, however, they finished ahead of other boats. McKenzie says that the team represented a "visible expression of the rehabilitation research that we are trying to do in sports medicine, and the extraordinary performances that are possible. We won just by being there."
Clustered in their vivid fuschia racing shirts, chatting while they waited to board their boat at Vancouver's False Creek, the women personified health, not life-threatening disease, and they radiated optimism. The joie de vivre and camaraderie were "incredibly energizing," says Dr. Susan Harris, 47, who had what she calls a "mild case of breast cancer" almost 2 years ago.
Their ages ranged from 31 to 60. They had run the gamut of breast-cancer surgeries, from simple lumpectomy to bilateral mastectomy. Some completed treatment 10 years ago, others just a few months before joining the team. Only three had any competitive paddling experience.
One experienced paddler, Reni Gitshmann, 43, was training for her sixth season of dragonboating when she was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago; she subsequently was advised not to continue the sport. Joining the Abreast in a Boat team meant coming full circle, and she seized the opportunity to resume the activity that she describes as addictive.
Following their success in Vancouver, the team was invited to race in Victoria and Seattle, and McKenzie is already planning for the 1997 season. He would like to take one or more teams to compete in Toronto, musing that he may need two or three boats. "If the need is there, we will meet that need," he says.