?The First International Dragon Boat Drifting Competition in Chaotianhou Natural Waters was held in Xingshan, Yichang, China, on June 18th, 2016, attracting 17 professional teams at home and abroad and over 1000 amateurs , with the Hungary team winning the champion, the Philippine team ranking the second, the American team the third, 12 amateurs including Song Yuanqing—“Hero of drifting on the Yangtze River”, and Qin Da’an—“Hero of drifting on the Yellow River” among the top six in the amateur team.

Held by Social Sports Guidance Center of General Administration of Sport of China and Chinese Longzhou Association, the contest is divided into two parts: professional team engaging in a 6.8-kilometer speed race and amateur team a 6.8-kilometer leisure race. According to contest requirements, each of two players from the professional team row a double rubber raft with leading and tail in a gorge with a 148-meter drop at the same time. The fastest one wins the race.

It is an innovation for industrious and smart Yichang locals to unprecedentedly combine both tourism and sports as well as drifting and dragon boat, based on the absorbing of culture about a Chinese ancient poet Yu Yuan, said Hu Jianguo, president of Asian Dragon Boat Association, who attended this contest. This activity combines sports, culture and tourism perfectly, which is worth promoting. Cai Kezhang, director of Municipal Sports Center and founder of dragon boat drifting, told the reporter, “Dragon boats for drifting is safer, more stable and more comfortable than those in the past after being repeatedly tested and checked.” The activity aims to combine dragon boat culture with drifting by introducing the idea of “dragon boat drifting”, thus, making it more competitive, more entertaining and more worth sightseeing. It is proved that the aquatic sport enjoys a wide popularity among the people, which will surely attract more people to be involved in it. (Reporter: Tian Yunbing, Bian Jianxin, Liu Wangshu; Correspondent: Cai Liang)