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Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival celebrates 30 years in the capital

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The threat of rain didn't stop paddlers competing at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival from hitting the water on Saturday. 

"Always go for the gold! Love medals," Sandy Foote said.

He and his club, the Fleet of Foote, eager to begin their race.

The Ottawa-based team has a decorated history with trophies and medals on display at their tent for all to see. This year marks a major milestone for the club and the festival.

"We've been paddling at this festival from the very day it started and this is our 30th anniversary," Foote said.

The regatta is the largest dragon boat festival in North America, and it's taking place at Mooney's Bay until Sunday. The event is free to the public with food trucks, a family zone and live performances from headliners Dear Rouge, Tim Baker and Bedouin Soundclash.  

"We had a friend who was racing and we thought we'd check it out; first time seeing the dragon boats,"  Tonya Comeau said.  

The festival attracted more than 150 teams from across the country and the United States. Amanda Maltbey's team drove 14 hours from Wisconsin to compete.

"This is a bigger scale race than what we see where we come from," she said. "The event is great, the teams are great, we have a great host team guiding us and we couldn't be having more fun."

"It is a community on the water and off the water and on the water we paddle and compete and off the water we raise money," Foote said.

Organizers tell CTV News Ottawa nearly $200,000 was raised during this year's festival. The money going towards local charities.

The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival runs all weekend. The top teams advance to Sunday where they will compete in the 100m, 200m and 500m finals with the official closing awards ceremony to follow.

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