Dragon Boat Races program to extend to two weekends with Macau-HK Cup

This year’s Macau International Dragon Boat Race will not just be back to a fully international format, as previously announced, but will comprise two full weekends due to the inclusion of a new trophy, the president of the Sports Bureau (ID), Pun Weng Kun announced yesterday on the sidelines of the worship ceremony held at the Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre.

According to Pun, this year’s edition of the Dragon Boat event, initially planned to take place on June 17, 18 and 22, will extend into the weekend of June 24 and 25 when a newly added Macau-Hong Kong Dragon Boat Cup will be held.

With this addition, the program extends to five days of competitions at the Nam Van Lake including, as usual, the local and the international races in the categories of small and large Dragon Boats, and short and long distance.

Pun also said a total of 200 teams have registered to participate in the event, including some international teams who were not part of the groups invited by the ID but who will instead join at their own initiative and expense.

In total, 17 foreign teams are expected to participate in the event, including teams representing Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia.

The ID president said that the interest from the international teams comes as the Macau Dragon Boat Races event is a well-established “brand” of the international sports panorama.

As usual, besides the races, there will be a series of booths selling souvenirs and cultural and creative industries at the Nam Van “white tent” area.

Pun said he believes that with so many attraction points, the stands will be filled with visitors who will take the opportunity to visit Macau while helping the races contribute to the synergy between sports and tourism.