DSN Dec17 Final

Dragon Sport News - Emagazine “The Independent Voice of Dragon Boat Sport” December 2017 Winter Edition
A NEW YEAR’S WISH OR TWO. by Mike MacKeddie-Haslam.
WELCOME again to Dragon Sport News, the E-magazine with news and views on all
aspects of Dragon Boating and what people think and feel about it !
Looking back at the 2017 World Nations Champs and the IDBF Congress in
Kunming, led me to thinking about a New Year’s wish or two.
The first concerns our dedicated Race Officials or rather their leaders. At the Team
Mangers Meeting for the Worlds’ it was stated that there would be no ‘false starts’ during
the Championships and that any crew that did make a false start would be disqualified.
Why, because the Chief Official did not want to have to delay a race when CCTV 5 were covering the races live !
Well great to have TV coverage etc but that cannot over-ride the IDBF Racing Rules, which allow for one false start without
immediate disqualification. Only the IDBF Members can change the Racing Rules and then only in an Olympic Year.
In Hong Kong, in 2012 crews were told that if they were late in the Boat Marshalling area they would be given Time Penalties. Again
no such rule exists. So, my first wish is for Race Officials to remember that they are there to help crews to race and not to
stop them.
My second concern is that things were a bit rushed at the Members Congress. All the supporting papers for the Agenda were
only given to the Delegates when they arrived at the Congress. Among them were changes to the Statutes and Bye-Laws which the
IDBF President asked the Congress to vote for ‘on block’, with hardly any time to consider the changes or discuss them.
The reason was that there were lots of presentations on future World Champs to listen to and elections to be held.
Fair enough, nice to hear presentations but discussing changes to the IDBF Statutes is surely more important and changes need
thinking time before voting on. So, my second wish is more discussion time at Congress please, for issues affecting our Sport.
For more ‘Talking Points’ from the IDBF Congress, see page 30..
Having set up my New Year’s wishes, may I also say a heartfelt thankyou to the IDBF Council and Members Congress for
recognising my role in creating the IDBF and modern Sport Racing, by acknowledging me as the IDBF Founder. A title to go
with that of Honorary President, accorded to me by the 2015 IDBF Members Congress. ‘Honours’ from peers are honours
indeed and very much appreciated.
EDBF BOARD GENDER BALANCE
Belgrade Meeting, 23 November 2017
PRESIDENTS FOUR at the IDBF World Junior Champs.
Divonne Le Bains, France, July 2017
Left to Right:
Mike MacKeddie-Haslam, IDBF Founder, Honorary President
Mike Thomas, IDBF President
Jane Frost IBCPC President
Alan Van Caubergh, EDBF President (retiring), IDBF Treasurer
Claudio Schermi, EDBF President Elect (IDBF VP retiring)
Left to Right. Natalia Kravtsova, Julie Doyle, Mike Haslam,
Alan Van Caubergh, Kimberly Beckwith, Claudio Schermi,
Péter Járosi, Marura Dezi and Ute Becker,
Comment, articles and pictures for Dragon Sport News should be sent to the Editor:
Tel: + 44 (0) 1243 862652. Email: mikehaslam@dragonboat.org.uk or mikehaslam@aol.com
Today, 23 international sport federations showed their
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Dragon Sport News (DSN) is a privately published, emagazine, covering all aspects of Dragon Boating. The articles published in DBN are
not the views of the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) Council or Elected Officers’ and do not represent the policies of the IDBF
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