About our team:
  • we are a breast cancer survivor team, made up of those who have been diagnosed and treated of breast cancer, and could be either male or female

  • we raise money through pledges and donations for proposed regional cancer care centres, primarily in Barrie for Royal Victoria Hospital and in Newmarket for Southlake Regional Hospital

Barrie's Ribbons of Hope is a dragon boat team comprised of breast cancer survivors based in Barrie. Through our Dragon Boat races and participation in the Run for the Cure, we raise public awareness of breast cancer and show that there is life after breast cancer. We provide other survivors with a strong message of hope, inspiration and encouragement.

Our team is made up of 40 females and we are always trying to recruit new members. Last year we participated in 2 races, Midland and Barrie. We received the Spirit Award for the team with the best spirit at the 2nd Annual Barrie Festival. Along with 4 other survivor teams we participated in the Breast Cup Challenge followed by an extremely moving flower ceremony in which we toss pink carnations into the water in memory of those who are not able to paddle with us anymore.

As part of the Barrie Festival we are asked to raise money for charity and our team raised over $14,000 for the new Regional Cancer Centres at Barrie and Newmarket.

Our team is hoping to participate in 3 races this year (Midland, North Bay & Barrie) and some members are fundraising to go to Vancouver to participate in the 10th Anniversary of "Abreast in a Boat" (the first Breast Cancer Survivor's team in Canada).