‘It’s the canal we can’t trust’: Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Festival future uncertain

After a fifth consecutive cancellation, organizers can no longer rely on the Rideau Canal to meet the required ice thickness.

Published Jan 01, 2025  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Richard Martin, team captain of Chinatown Showboat, has competed in previous ice dragon boat festivals held in Ottawa. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

Richard Martin can’t recall exactly when he and his team, Chinatown Showboat, last competed in Ottawa’s Ice Dragon Boat Festival.

The 2024 and 2023 events were cancelled within days of scheduled races at the beginning of February due to the Rideau Canal’s condition. The 2022 and 2021 events were also scrapped on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, event organizers didn’t even have to wait until 2025 before they officially announced this year’s edition would not go ahead because they could not guarantee the “required ice thickness.”

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“People are very passionate about this, so it’s very unfortunate,” Martin said. “With all the challenges of a climate that’s changing, it’s the right decision. Not an easy one.”

With the event’s current track record of cancellations, it’ll be hard to guarantee the required ice thickness next year, or the year after that.

As for Ottawa’s two-day event that once set attendance records as the world’s largest ice dragon boat festival with 100 teams racing across 250 metres on the frozen canal, now its entire future is on the verge of sinking.

The Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Festival took place Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019, on Dow’s Lake, part of the Winterlude festivities. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

In 2024, the canal was only open for 10 total skating days. It was the second-shortest skating season in history, behind only 2023 when poor ice conditions kept the canal closed all year.

The 2025 non-event marks five years since Ottawa’s last Ice Dragon Boat Festival.

The CEO of the festival organizing group, John Brooman, said that after the 2024 cancellation, “it was writing on the wall” and he knew that the 2025 event was unlikely.

“Unless we find an alternate location,” Brooman said, “It’s doubtful that it will return.

“We basically lost the trust of the customers, the paddlers, and the ability to actually pull the event off.”

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Brooman said organizers refunded the participating teams’ roughly $800 registration fee in 2023 and 2024. However, last year, teams who travelled to Ottawa for the festival were unable to get refunds for their hotel and travel expenses.

“It created a real sour grapes scenario, because [teams] had to spend quite a bit of money,” he said, “and there was no recourse.”

Brooman said organizers did not even open registration for 2025 amid the festival’s uncertainty.

“It’s the canal itself that we can’t trust,” Brooman said.

He added that there have been “some conversations” with the federal government to freeze the canal “in a man-made way,” but no plans were solidified.

Instead, the organizing teams are exploring alternative locations like the Icelynd Skating Trails in Stittsville or freezing-over streets in downtown Ottawa for the races, Brooman said, but most of these alternatives fell through due to costs and a lack of space to host the event.

“There was a lot of planning going into place, a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of trying to calculate how we could potentially bring the [racing] back,” Brooman continued. “We ultimately had to make the decision three or four weeks ago, when we realized absolutely that there was going to be no way we could hold it.”

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The second annual Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Festival was held on Dow’s Lake on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, part of Winterlude. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia

Martin said that his Chinatown Showboat team does not prep or train much leading up to races, nor do they have many expenses beyond the registration fee, which their sponsor, Chinatown, paid for in previous years.

However, this is not always the case for participating racers.

“We’re not a typical team,” he said, adding that Chinatown Showboat’s focus is their fundraising endeavours for local charities. “There are some teams that train and all that sort of stuff.”

Ultimately, Martin said the tourism industry “takes a hit” when the ice boat festival is cancelled. But the festival cancellation impacts teams and the Ottawa community, too.

“We’re part of a larger family, the old dragon boat enthusiasts,” he said. “It’s a real community effort.”

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