Ancient sport thrives in Jack London Square

Some 2,400 years ago, Qu Yuan, a respected Chinese poet, scholar and statesman, drowned himself in the Mi Lo River to protest the corrupt Chu dynasty. The local fishermen who greatly admired Qu Yuan, the story goes, raced their boats out in a failed attempt to save him. All the while, the fishermen beat their drums and thrashed the water with their paddles to drive away both fish and evil spirits from Qu Yuan's body.

Thus, the sport of dragon boat racing was born.

Paddlers observed that tradition Saturday and Sunday at the sixth annual California International Dragon Boat Festival at Jack London Square.

As usual, the Oakland-based International Dragon Boat Association hosted the event.

"(Dragon boat racing) goes back thousands of years," IDBA founder and president Shirley Gee said. "At the time, it brought communities together once a year. Here, we've got corporate teams, community service teams and we've got youth t...