Lotus Sports Club

The Lotus Sports Club offers instruction and training for paddlers of all age and experience levels who wish to race in a variety of non-powered watercraft such as dragon boats and outrigger canoes. Based at the Barnet Marine Park on the Burrard Inlet, the Lotus Sports Club has had a racing program in existence since the club's inception in 1986.

The Lotus Sports Club was first formed in l986 to compete as a team in the first Vancouver International Dragon Boat Races at Expo '86. Since that time, the club has won the Canadian Men's Dragon Boat Championship three times. In l988, Lotus formed a women's dragon boat team which competed in numerous races in Vancouver, Portland and New York. Lotus has had a mixed dragon boat team since 1987. In 1996, the Lotus Mixed Team placed first at the Vancouver International Festival and went to Toronto to compete in the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival. In the past ten years, Lotus has continued to compete in both local and international dragon boat races. At the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, Lotus hs entered up to four dragon boat teams!

The sport of outrigger canoeing has grown in popularity in the Pacific Northwest. A relatively new sport in Canada, outrigger canoeing started in 1988 in Vancouver and has grown to include a number of clubs across the country. In 1989, the Lotus Sports Club organized the first outrigger race in Canada, the Lotus Ironman. Since then, the list of outrigger races has become extensive and Lotus has made a name for itself as both a competitive and participatory club. The Lotus Senior Masters Women's team won the 2004 CORA Canadian Outrigger championship in their division. This past year, the Lotus Mixed team won the CORA Canadian Iron Championships as well as the CORA Cup in the Open Mixed division.

It was decided in the spring of l989 to start a junior development program. Since then, the program has grown to include six high schools in the Tri-Cities area and over 1000 students have been on the team. This team has done very well in both local and international meets and has many championships to its credit. For the past nine years, the Lotus junior teams have been the CORA Canadian Outrigger Junior Division champions.

The competitive, social and environmentally friendly aspects of our watersports have drawn many people to the Lotus Sports Club