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By Helen Shearer, KAB Member and Co-Chair IBCPC 2018 Registration Committee
Travelling to different places with Knot A Breast Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat Team over the years has been a great source of pleasure and enjoyment for me. I have had the privilege to go to some truly unbelievable dragon boat festivals not only in Ontario, but also elsewhere in Canada from the east coast to the west coast, as well as Florida, Berlin, and Florence! Without a doubt the International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission (IBCPC) festivals are among the largest for Breast Cancer Survivor teams around the world. They are emotional, supportive, and inspirational events for Breast Cancer Survivors to attend. Officially, it is non-competitive, considered a participatory and celebratory event. But I have always thought that if organizers time the races… it is competitive!
With my Co-Chair, Shelley Lockley, for the 2018 IBCPC Festival in Florence, Italy, we were involved in the registration of our team, a unique experience that had its challenges… but nothing we couldn’t handle by grumbling to the event organizers who were most helpful even with a seven-hour time difference. It was a big learning curve dealing with currency exchange, banking fees, payment deadlines, hotel choices, T-shirt sizing, as well as making decisions on accommodations for our team members. Using the list provided by IBCPC we based our choice on price, special event bus shuttles to and from the venue, and team members on a budget. We also didn’t want our team spread out in different hotel locations, preferring to stay together as a team! We are a team family, including supporters who travelled with us. Our final choice was comfortable, clean and reasonably priced. We were disappointed to learn when we arrived on site at registration that shuttles would not be provided for our chosen hotel… disappointing to say the least. Everyone managed by working together to take cabs, sharing the cost for getting around Florence. Besides, we only ate and slept at the hotel, which, by the way, had wonderful meals.
The Arno River, Florence, Italy 
New KAB Canada proud shirts
KAB members Carrie Brooks-Joiner & Vivian Medley in a Florence shop (food!) 
KAB member Michelle Lapointe in a Florence shop (wine!) 
Gelato!
We were blessed with beautiful weather, hovering around 31 to 33 degrees C most days. As a team we practice in similar temperatures in the month of July, Ontario’s hottest month. During the festival we had time to watch Breast Cancer Survivor (BCS) teams paddling up and down the Arno River powering to the finish line and doing their best!
The event organizers arranged a “team ambassador” for each BCS team who was our liaison person for help with language issues, restaurant recommendations, as well as places to visit throughout our stay. Team Knot A Breast was fortunate to have a wonderful women, Anna-Gloria, as our ambassador. She was extremely outgoing, friendly, warm, and inviting, and learned to love Breast Cancer Survivor dragon boating with a winning team!
During our very warm racing days, water to drink was difficult to get, the water fountains were slow with warm water and long line-ups. There were no large grocery stores like we have in Canada. Fortunately for us, Anna-Gloria was well connected, arriving on a few occasions with much needed cold bottles of water and nutritional snacks in a large suitcase. Gloria’s help was much appreciated and well received; she was truly our Florence connection.
Helen Shearer (right), KAB Co-Chair IBCPC 2018 Registration Committee with IBCPC Festival Ambassador to KAB, Anna-Gloria (middle), and Kathy MacFarlane 
Precious water delivery to the KAB team with member Kathy MacFarlane (right)
Gloria arranged for our team to attend an evening at her Tuscany villa for a ‘rock concert’, with transportation, meal and refreshments. The evening was fantastic!
We got to meet the band members as well as dance the evening away. One person who stood out especially with Knot A Breast in attendance was the part-time guitarist. His full-time job was as a surgeon… a breast cancer surgeon! It was a fantastic evening to remember in the Tuscany hills.
Our trip ended with a wonderful celebration dinner arranged by KAB member, Anna Candelori. We didn’t know how successful we would be so with two first-place wins for KAB, what a party it was! We gave it our all and it was a sweet win to end the festival and truly a trip of a lifetime full of many memories.
Celebration dinner at an Italian restaurant in Florence, Italy
