Penn alums enter dragon boats

Almost unkn own in the U.S., several Penn graduates embraced "the ultimate team sport." All sports incorporating boats and oars were not created equal. A crew boat sits eight rowers at most. They sit single file and row a steady 35 times a minute. They are usually painted in nondescript shades of blue and brown. Dragon boats, on the other hand, are a fanciful-looking species -- with snarling dragon "heads" at the bow and vibrant shades of red and gold adorning their bellies -- they require 20 rowers paddling in sync 85-100 times a minute. Which is why Steve Hartman, a Penn alumnus and avid dragon boater, calls it "the ultimate team sport." But take a tally of Philadelphia residents who have even heard of the sport -- much less that Philadelphia has a gold-medalist team -- and the number will likely be almost nil. Not so for crew. And not so for dragon boating in East Asia, where the sport is an immensely popular tradition that dates back 2,000 years. When the Philadelphia Dragon Boat team, representing the United States this past June at the International Dragon Boat races in Hong Kong, took the gold medal in the men's 500-meter, the Philadelphia Inquirer allotted two lines to the news. With such little recognition, and only two big races to look forward to every year, what has kept the 20 paddlers -- all of them with demanding full-time workloads -- meeting on the Schuylkill five times a week since March 1, doing hundreds of sit-ups a night, and working out year-long? International competition. "There is nothing like sitting at the starting line, and on your left you've got Indonesia, and on your right you've got Japan," said Hartman. Like his teammates, local attorney Hartman's career would normally prevent the former Penn rower from continuing to row seriously. But even 1985 College alumnus and Penn Medical School graduate Ken Allwood -- a neurosurgical resident at HUP -- manages to make it out to Manayunk's Philadelphia Canoe club to paddle with the team. "He used to bring his beeper and cellular phone on the boat with him," paddler Pete Macnamara said "He'd have to stop mid-segment and take calls." Even still, Philly's team was up against impressive competition last June 14 in Hong Kong. Both Australia and Germany boast teams with Olympic rowers, and Indonesia's team -- which is professional -- practices 14 times a week. In China, where the sport originated and crowds of "at least 250,000," according to Hartman, gathered in 1995 for the World Championships, the teams are also exceedingly competitive. And China also has the gold-medalist women's dragon boat team, an endeavor which Philadelphia has recently taken on under the coaching of Carol Lee Lindner, a Haverford resident and canoeist. "I used to think 'what is that? It looks like some kind of joke!'" said the 57-year old coach in reference to the 39-foot canoe-like dragon boats. But little by little, the sport has gained popularity. Lindner, who attracted 75 women to the team when she posted flyers at Main Line Nautilus, caught the attention of her youngest paddler, College sophomore and Penn rower Anne Plutzer, at a health club. "I'm always looking to try something new, and Carol Lee posted something at [the place] where I work out," said Plutzer. "It's different from crew, because it's more one-sided, and mostly you use your upper body." The women -- whose ages range from 18-42 (while most of the men are in their 30s and 40s) -- are not slated to come close to the men's level of competition any time soon. But it is they, in part, who will enable the men to return to Hong Kong. The women each pay $100 per session to receive lessons from the men, and until the team gets corporate sponsorship, it is a large source of funding for the Philadelphia Men's Dragon Boat team. But with the sport's recognition spreading and currently more than 40 teams nationwide, that may not be long.