Train Like a Dragon Boater
How it works
Your four-week journey starts here
Train Like a Dragon Boater is a four-week community fitness challenge inspired by the training, teamwork and resilience of CanSurvive’s world-champion paddlers.
You will receive a new challenge each day, track your progress online and join a community moving together for women’s health, breast cancer awareness and CanSurvive.
Registration costs $50 per person.
Step 1: Sign up
Complete the online registration form and pay your $50 entry securely. During registration, you can:
- Enter as an individual
- Create a new team
- Join an existing team
- Choose the name displayed on the leaderboard
- Select your preferred challenge level
- Subscribe to future CanSurvive news and updates
Your challenge emails are included as part of registration. Joining the wider CanSurvive mailing list is optional.
Once your registration is complete, you will receive a confirmation email containing everything you need to get started.
Step 2: Choose your crew
You can take part on your own, but dragon boaters know that challenges are often better with a crew. Create or join a team with:
- Friends or family
- Your workplace
- Your gym
- Your sports team
- Your community group
- Anyone ready for four weeks of movement and friendly competition
Team members can encourage one another, compare progress and work their way up the leaderboard together. Teams need at least 3 people to appear on the team leaderboard.
You do not have to complete your daily challenge at the same time or in the same place.
Step 3: Receive your daily challenge
Each day during the four-week campaign, you will receive an email introducing that day’s activity. The challenges will draw on the physical qualities dragon boaters train, including:
- Core strength
- Upper-body strength
- Leg strength
- Mobility
- Balance
- Cardiovascular fitness
- Coordination
- Recovery
- Mental resilience
- Teamwork
Each challenge will include clear instructions and options for different ability levels.
Some days will test you. Some will help you recover. Some may introduce you to muscles that have apparently been avoiding correspondence.
Step 4: Make it work for you
Every participant starts from a different place. The aim is consistent movement, not perfect performance. For each challenge, choose the option that best suits you:
Start
A lower-impact or beginner-friendly option for participants building confidence, returning to exercise or managing physical limitations.
Build
The standard daily challenge for participants who exercise semi-regularly.
Champion
An advanced option for anyone wanting additional repetitions, resistance or intensity.
You can also substitute an appropriate movement, divide the target into smaller sessions or complete the activity seated.
Your challenge still counts when you adapt it. Smart training is not cheating.
Step 5: Track your progress
Log in to your participant dashboard to record each completed challenge. Your tracker will help you:
- See how many challenge days you have completed
- Follow your four-week progress
- Maintain your daily streak
- View personal and team achievements
- Compare results on the leaderboard
- Celebrate milestones along the way
You decide how your name appears publicly. If you prefer, you can use a first name, team name or display name.
Step 6: Follow the leaderboard
The leaderboard adds a little dragon boat-style competition to the campaign. It shows:
- Individual challenge progress
- Team challenge progress
- Most consistent participants
The leaderboard is designed to motivate, not intimidate. Completing an adapted challenge is still completing the challenge, and every level earns the same points.
The real win is showing up for four weeks and doing something positive for yourself and your community.
Step 7: Stay connected
Registered participants will receive regular emails containing:
- The daily challenge
- Exercise guidance and adaptations
- Progress reminders
- Encouragement from CanSurvive paddlers
- Breast cancer awareness messages
- Team and leaderboard highlights
- Prize announcements
- Important campaign updates
Please add no-reply@mailsender.growmybusiness.co.nz to your contacts so the daily challenge does not disappear into the spam folder for an unplanned rest day.
Step 8: Complete the challenge
At the end of four weeks, record your final activity and celebrate what you have achieved.
Every eligible registered participant who meets the published prize draw requirements will go into the prize draw. Prize details and full prize draw terms will be available before registrations open.
You will also receive a completion email and a summary of the difference the challenge community has made for CanSurvive.
What you need
You can complete most of the challenge with:
- Comfortable clothing
- Supportive footwear where appropriate
- A safe space to move
- Internet or email access
- Water
- A chair, wall or common household items for selected adaptations
- A willingness to begin
Optional equipment may include resistance bands, light weights or gym equipment, but an accessible alternative will be available wherever practical.
Important safety information
Train Like a Dragon Boater is a general community fitness challenge, not an individual exercise prescription or medical programme.
Work within your capabilities, use the adaptations provided and stop if you experience pain, dizziness, unusual shortness of breath or other concerning symptoms.
If you are receiving medical treatment, returning to exercise after surgery, pregnant, managing an injury or living with a health condition, seek appropriate professional advice before beginning.
Ready to join the crew?
Four weeks of movement can build strength, confidence and momentum. It can also help keep an extraordinary community of breast cancer survivors and supporters on the water.
Registration: $50. Challenge dates: Sunday, 1 November to Monday, 30 November.