On the water with Hong Kong’s first LGBT+ dragon boat team

As the city gears up for Hong Kong’s annual Dragon Boat Festival this June, scores of teams will be hitting the waters as often as possible, while cutting out the junk food ahead of the big race. That’s not exactly how the Fierce Dragons – the city’s first LGBT+ dragon boat team – like to do things, however. 

Some fast food and a few pints in the Smugglers Inn after training are just as crucial as the effort they put in on the water every Sunday morning at Stanley Main Beach. “It’s important – not for the nutrition, obviously – but just to gather,” says captain Adrian Wong. 

Indeed, the initial idea behind forming an “out and proud” team in Hong Kong when it was launched in 2016 by InterBank (an LGBT+ professional networking group for bankers in the city) was to inspire and provide a place to come together.

“We put together a team charter and put community representation at the core of what we were trying to do,” says co-founder Jamie Wilde.

The Dragons are becoming a highly competitive outfit: they finished seventh in the Open category at last year’s Sun Life Stanley International Championships, before achieving their crowning glory – winning the Silver Cup with fifth place at the Gay Games on home waters last November. “Everyone put in a huge amount of effort to build the team up to where it is now and I feel humbled to have been able to contribute to that,” adds Wilde. “The crew train hard and party hard.”

The biggest struggle getting the team off the ground, according to co-founder Douglas Knight, was “asking folks to spend their weekend time on something that [wasn’t] drinking or eating. So we made the social aspect a very important part,” says the 57-year-old American, who is a director at the Bank of America.

Wilde, 44, and Knight have both taken a step back from the team now, leaving Hong Kong-born New Zealander Wong – a 32-year-old banker at BNP Paribas – to take up the mantle.

The team assemble at the Stanley Beach changing rooms at 10.30am every Sunday. They work with a Dragon Boat Association coach on mastering technique – skill, rhythm, where to apply strength, where to put the paddle into the water, and the right starting position. 

A lot of the work is done away from the beach, though, in the gym. “We have a mix of people doing different types of workout routines,” says Wong. “We don’t necessarily prescribe training regimens but we are well aware that [other] teams have prescribed nutritionists and coaching programmes.

“In terms of measuring calorie intake, portion control, we haven’t prescribed anything because we are eating fish and chips right after anyway.” 

It’s a good thing, then, the Fierce Dragons also partake in “land training” sessions midweek – cardio exercises to keep fitness up for explosive races that last less than two minutes, over just 300 metres.

“We also socialise on Saturday nights,” says Wong. “Balancing that side with a dragon boat team that is in a fairly competitive environment, we are finding ourselves doing pretty well. It’s incredibly meaningful to showcase key parts of the community as a whole through our team.”

“We have a fantastic social side – but on the flip side we all work very hard at training and take it very seriously,” says Steven Pike, an Australian who relocated to Hong Kong seven years ago with his job in the travel industry. “We want to be winners on race days.” 

“The camaraderie after each session is one of my favourite parts. It’s a true community,” says 50-year-old Simon Fallon of PMDL Architecture and Design, who joined the team in 2020. “We are a fun and inclusive team. But we represent more than just a LGBT+ team. We welcome everyone who wants to paddle with us. We’re participating not just for the sport or Hong Kong but to support diversity and community on all levels.”

The Dragons have also been able to show “that some homos are not too bad at sport after all”, according to Wilde, who has been selected to represent Great Britain’s Senior A (40+) team at the European Nations Championships in Prague this July.

“Growing up gay in the 1990s – yeah, I’m old – there weren’t any openly gay sports stars,” Wilde recalls. “There are precious few even now. I felt that sports were inaccessible to me. 

“I’ve spoken to a few team members who have similar stories; they were put off joining any team sports for fear of being outed or ridiculed.

“I’m so proud of what the team has achieved together and I'm sure they will continue to reach new heights and represent our community in a sport which is such an important part of Hong Kong and Chinese culture.”