The Portland Rose Festival Dragon Boat Race is an annual two-day cultural event hosted by the Portland-Kaohsiung Sister City Association (PKSCA), held in early June as a sanctioned event of the Portland Rose Festival Foundation.

The event features as many as 96 dragon boat teams from all over the world who race in Taiwan-style dragon boats on the Willamette River at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.

There are teams in five divisions across three categories: Mixed, Women, and High School; all teams race two heats on Day 1 to determine seeding in their divisions, then work to advance through the quarter-, semi- and final heats in their respective divisions on Day 2.

The Race is unique in that local teams have only a 10-week practice season in preparation for the June race weekend. Each year this 10-week season contributes greatly to the growth of the sport in the Pacific Northwest in general, and specifically to the collaborative spirit of the OCHIN employees who join the company team.

OCHIN’s Director of Technical Services and Mountain Home Outrigger Club member Laurie Coleman has coached the OCHIN Dragon Boat team Komochin Dragons to the final heat in its respective division every year since the team was formed in 2006.

The training and race event is a tremendous physical, mental and team building experience, with long lasting positive effects on the team members, effects which carry over into the work environment.