Dragon boats maneuver around weather

A cold front sweeping through Northwest Montana on Sunday may have dampened attendance, but Montana Dragon Boat Festival organizer Diane Medler called the Lakeside event’s fifth year a success.

Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau, said Monday that festival coordinators were able to plan around the uncooperative weather in Lakeside to get all 48 participating teams through the two-day contest.

“On Saturday, the wind picked up and the water got rough, so we actually stopped the races at about noon and then we had some on-shore ceremonies and programs,” she said. “In the afternoon the weather was good, it was just the water was too rough.”

On Sunday morning the race directors started races an hour early, she said, and shortened the course distance from 500 to 225 meters. By Sunday afternoon, team Skittles of Long Beach, California, had been declared the winner after a neck-and-neck finish with past-champion team Bozeman Vikings.

Medler said the weather stayed calm Sunday morning, but the stormy forecast for later in the day likely kept many would-be spectators away from the festival. Overall attendance on Sunday was down, she said, but Saturday’s crowds appeared to be closer to those of previous years.

Full competition results were not yet available by late Monday afternoon, but Medler said they would be posted online at kalispellevents.sportngin.com.