Business

Mayo Dragon Boat races cancelled because of COVID-19

Published

4 years ago

April 21, 2020

A virus has defeated the dragon boats for this year.

La Crosse’s Big Blue Dragon Boat races, sponsored by Mayo, have been cancelled for 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak.

This year’s event was scheduled for June 20 on the Black River at Copeland Park.

Heidi Odegaard from Mayo said several teams had already signed up for the 8th annual races.

Odegaard says the size of a crew in a single boat cannot be reduced from the standard 22 people.

It would also have been hard to reschedule the races for later in the year, because some of the long boats are brought in from Florida.

The boat races are conducted as a fund-raiser for breast cancer programs at Mayo.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.