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Connor Mycroft

Competitors marked the final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races on Sunday by donning an array of colourful costumes that included beloved characters from animated films and Chinese folklore.
Hongkongers, expats and a team of visiting Canadian paddlers were among those taking part in the fancy dress competition held on the event’s second day. The races were organised by the city’s Tourism Board and the Hong Kong China Dragon Boat Association.
Toronto’s Water Vipers dragon boat team was among the nine groups competing for the best fancy dress, with their around 22-strong crew rocking up to the event with geese hats.
Water Vipers paddler Christopher Trotman, 36, said his team was spending about a week in Hong Kong amid the competition.
“So far it’s been great,” he said. “Toronto is a very multicultural city, so we have people who are locals from Hong Kong, and that’s been great in helping us experience the city.”

The fancy dress contest put an emphasis on style over racing, with those taking to the waters including a team from the MTR Corporation, who dressed up as popular Chinese legends Wukong and Ne Zha.
Both characters have enjoyed a recent surge in popularity after they took centre stage in a widely acclaimed video game and blockbuster film, respectively.
Team captain Raymond Wong Chun-man, 38, braved the heat and showed his commitment to the contest by sweating it out in a Wukong mask.
“Our motto is that even in extremely hot weather, nothing can stop us,” he said.
Wong’s team was also crowned the winners for their eye-catching outfits.
Earlier in the day, the Observatory issued a “very hot weather” warning, with some parts of the city seeing temperatures reach as high as 34.4 degrees Celsius (94 Fahrenheit).

Briton Daniella Rocco, who has lived in the city for three years, represented Hong Kong Disneyland with a custom-made outfit based on the character Maui from the hit animated film Moana.
The 26-year-old’s costume included a shark head and a patterned T-shirt to represent Polynesian tattoos.
Rocco was all smiles despite the heat and said she was “cherishing the moment”.
“We are so excited to be here,” she said. “It’s a great experience to be going up against such incredible paddlers.”
The hot weather also failed to deter crowds from lining up along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront to catch a glimpse of the colourfully dressed teams.
Australian Andrew Bourke, 46, took his five-year-old son, Huxley, to see Sunday’s event, with the boy cheerfully imitating the paddlers as the boats raced past his vantage point.
Bourke, who has lived in the city for five years and works in the coffee industry, said Huxley’s mother was a Hongkonger and stressed the importance of letting his son experience a top local tradition.
“I wanted him to get the culture and history of Hong Kong,” he said.

The fancy dress competition is part of the Sun Life Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, held this year on Saturday and Sunday.
The two-day event attracted 190 teams, or more than 4,500 athletes, from Hong Kong, mainland China and the rest of the world to compete in 80 races.
The races celebrate the annual Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and fell on May 31 this year.
The festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a famous poet from the ancient Chu state of China’s Warring States period (475-221 BC), who is said to have drowned himself in a river in an act of despair.
According to popular legends, the festival’s traditions are linked to villagers who took to the river in boats in the hopes of recovering Qu’s body.


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Some paddlers dressed up as popular Chinese legends Wukong and Ne Zha for the event. Photo: Eugene Lee

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The races celebrate the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Photo: Eugene Lee

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Hong Kong

Society

Paddlers don dazzling array of colourful costumes for final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races


Paddlers don dazzling array of colourful costumes for final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races.


Chinese legends, Disney characters compete in Hong Kong dragon boat races

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Paddlers don dazzling array of colourful costumes for final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races

Paddlers don dazzling array of colourful costumes for final day of Hong Kong’s International Dragon Boat Races