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Knoxville, TN – Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon, Inc. (Barge Waggoner) employees from four offices gathered at Knoxville’s Concord Park on Saturday to compete in the 9th Annual Knoxville Dragon Boat Festival, a fund-raising race event for the Knoxville Area Rescue Ministry (KARM) which provides help to the homeless. Dragon boat racing is a centuries-old sport from China where a team of 20 members paddle a 46-foot-long boat in unison to race against other boats in a sprint fashion. Each boat has a drummer who sits in the front of the boat and keeps the cadence for the team by beating a drum. Corporate and community teams race for the best average time across two heats. Approximately 46 teams competed this year for bragging rights and trophies in several different divisions.
Barge Waggoner took both heats in the Recreation Division to take the trophy. Employees from the Nashville, Chattanooga, and Birmingham offices joined team members from Knoxville, along with a few friends and family members to make up the Barge Waggoner team. Despite competing with one empty seat in the boat, Red Fish, Blue Fish team won the first heat with a time of 1 minute, 3 seconds, and the second heat with a time of 1 minute, 5 seconds.
The Dragon Boat Race Festival raised over $126,000 for KARM and brought together teams from all over the Knoxville area to compete. |
