Todd Wong with Lion Head

Asian Canadian adventures in inter-cultural Vancouver
and home of Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Welcome to GungHaggisFatChoy.com

Home to my passions for my inter-cultural adventures,

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns
Chinese New Year Dinner event.


Save Kogawa House campaign,

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team,

Find what you are looking for by
1) scroll the topics links,
2) use the search function

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Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.

We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.

We practice Sunday 1:30 pm -3:30 pm Tuesday 6pm-7:45pm Wednesday 6pm - 7:45 pm

We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.

Our coach Todd Wong has 15+ years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.

Our 2005 Season brought us the David Lam Award for being the team that best represented the multicultural spirit of the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and Bronze medals at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. In 2007, we won Gold in B Division at Vernon Races.

For more information:
Click on Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information
phone: 604-987-7124-
e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

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2009 TICKETS Available in October 2008

WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annual Dinner, celebrating 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + Chinese New Year's Eve.

WHEN: 6PM January 25 2009, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm


WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant,
#400-180 Keefer St.


CULTURE: Our Performers create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!

FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner
2004 - The debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton
2005 - Haggis lettuce wrap!
2007 - Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet
2008 - Scotch tastings!
Watch for more surprises in 2008!






Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner featuring performers: Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa, with co-host Prem Gill .

Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions 604-987-7124

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Year Archive
View Article  Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is racing May 17th at Burnaby's Barnet Marine Park
The Lotus Sports Club Bill Alley Memorial Dragon Boat Regatta is one of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team's favorite races of the season.  

This year it is held on the Saturday of the Victoria Day Long weekend. May 17, 2008.


The 2007 Gung Haggis dragon boat team getting loaded into the boat.

The Lotus Sports Club is one of North America's oldest dragon boat paddling clubs.  It was started in 1986, for the first dragon boat race in Vancouver during Expo 86.  The club has won the Canadian Men's Dragon Boat Championship three times. In 1996, the Lotus Mixed Team placed first at the Vancouver International Dragon boat Festival and went to Toronto to compete in the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival.

My first dragon boat experience was at the Lotus Sports Club, where our Headliners Team practiced in 1993.  We won the novice division that first year.  I paddled and steered three years on the Headliners before starting up the Celebration team in 1997.  We would take Celebration team to Lotus Sports Club organized Golden Spike dragon boat race at Port Moody's Rocky Point Park.  The races were moved to Barnet Marine Park and later renamed to the Bill Alley Memorial Dragon boat Regatta, in honour of one of the club founders.

Read about last year's Gung Haggis team at the 2007 Lotus Dragon Boat Bill Alley Dragon Boat Regatta
We won the Adult Mixed Final B race.
- Gung Haggis dragon boat team does well at Lotus ...

The following is information to our paddlers and friends who want to come compete or cheer us on!!!

Here's a map to Barnet Marine Park
Map to Lotus Sports Club

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.290846,-122.928954&spn=0.003537,0.007

From Vancouver/Burnaby:
drive East on Hastings St, it will turn into Barnet Rd.
Go past Cement factory on your left, past Velodrome on right
Go past Texaco Road on your left
Turn left at next light marked Barnet Marine Park.

From Port Moody/Coquitlam
Go West on Barnet Rd. (arriving from Clarke Road or St. Johns St.
Drive past Reed Point marina - just West of Port Moody.
Turn right at light marked Barnet Marine Park

If you have equipment to drop off:
proceed to the right on Takeda Drive.  Cross the train tracks - then there is a loading zone... watch for other cars unloading. drop off your partner with equipment.  After drop off - turn the car around and proceed back to parking lots.

The parking lot along Takeda Dr. will fill up fast.  Park in the large parking lot West of the park entrance.  There is also a pathway from the parking lot to the beach.

The dragon boat teams set up tents East of the concession stand.... usually along the beach.  This is where we set up in 2006.  Because of rain, we set up under the trees near the concession stand in 2007.

Gung Haggis schedule
arrive 8am - sign waivers & set up tents & tables
8:20 hand waivers in....
8:20am captain meeting
8:30am - warm up
8:45 - team briefing and line-up
8:50 marshall to race area
9:00 team picture
9:07 load boats
9:20 1st race heat 2
10:20 DOTTING OF THE EYES ceremony + Gung Haggis Lion and Dragon dance ceremony.
11:30 2nd race heat  8
12:30 3rd race  heat 10
2:15 Mixed Adult Final B
2:30 Mixed Adult Final A


PADDLERS
please arrive for 8am
to help set up the tents and our "camp" for the day.
If somebody arrives at 7:30 - they can claim better real estate for a beach view!
 
We need your signatures on the
waivers handed in by 8:20am

Stephen Mirowski is Team Captain
Todd wong is team coach / drummer
Dave Samis is steers

BRING: bowl + spoon for chili (courtesy of Chef Hillary)
             sandwich + own food + something to share
             your own water + drinks. 
             BANANAS recommended.
Bring: lawn chair, blankets, tents if needed.

(there is a food stand on site - but fried foods with lots of fat eg. hotdogs and hamburgers sit in your system for 3+ hours and are slow to digest).

Bring your SUV sun protection, a hat and water.

TEAM COLOURS are:
RED and BLACK - with BLUE kilts
(women's small and medium Gung Haggis team shirts available)

4 races - almost all paddlers will sit out a single race as spares.
Everybody will race 3 races.  Key positions will race every race eg. lead strokes, mid-strokes, drummer, steers.
spares announced during line-up
if you are sparing a race - please stay close to the team, in case somebody goes missing, or is sick or injured.






View Article  Gung Haggis dragon boat team performing well in race pieces
Paddling on False Creek in the sunshine... with friends... on a dragon boat team.  Very Vancouver!


I love the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragonboat team.  I have managed and coached it since 2002, when the team morphed from the former Celebration team, which I had created in 1997.

This past Sunday, we did some full 500m race pieces.  You could feel the power in the boat.  Some of the rookies still need to develop their timing and many paddlers still need to develop their cardio.  But the potential is there and we are very happy with our development this year.

Our core paddlers are so enthusiastic they wanted to start paddling in February.  I told them they were crazy and should go skiing instead... but happily relented and joined them, when a Global television crew wanted to film us for their "Best of BC" news series representing cultural diversity.

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is about opportunities. 
It's about community building.  It's about making cultural statements.  It's about having fun and making friends.
And it's about dragon boat racing....

This year I wanted to create two dragon boat teams.  We now have about 35 active paddlers, coming to practices on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm and Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 6pm.  Our system is flexible.  Come at least once a week, twice is recommended.  Pick a day, paddle, bring a friend and have some fun.  Each practice is different with different combinations of paddlers.  Everybody is getting to know each other, and we are encouraging more responsibilities and team leaders.

Last year we raced 7 dragon boat races + 2 canoe regattas.  We will do similar this year, starting on May 17th at the Lotus Sports Club Bill Alley dragonboat regatta.

This year is special.
Two weeks ago we had two time Olympic kayak racer Kamini Jain come out and give us a paddle clinic.  It really helped the team both improve their paddling, and as a bonding experience.  They got to watch each other on the video, cheer for each other, and encourage each other... which is what we do on the boat all the time.  Amazingly, Kamini really complimented many of our rookie paddlers.  She was amazed that some of them had only been on a boat for 6 or 7 times.

This year's Gung Haggis team is going to be incredible.
Adding the CC Dragons paddlers gives us so much more experience in the boat.
I have been drumming during our race pieces "as coach" waiting for our "star drummer" to come out.

Imagine conducting a symphony... where everybody knows what to do, when to do it.  All you have to do is wave your arms, and signal the transitions.

You don't do any counting... the team does it.... mentally... or only for key words.

You stand at the front, watch them, guide them, encourage them, coach them.  giving out cue words.... like a race jockey on a thoroughbred horse.

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