New Dragons Racing Club claimed two world titles on the waters of Liyu Lake, becoming double club-crew world champions at the 15th IDBF Club Crew World Championships in Hualien.
Gold across two boat classes
On the championship's closing days, NDRC won the Premier Open 500 m Standard Boat Grand Final, placing ahead of Dragon Zone Paddling Club, 22Dragons, and five other crews. Hours later, the Toronto club returned to the start line for the Premier Mixed 200 m Standard final. They stopped the clock at 43.01 seconds.
A one-second gap over Canadian rivals
The 200 m race was decided by a clean margin. NDRC crossed exactly one second ahead of fellow Canadian crew TNPC, who finished in 44.01. 22Dragons took bronze in 44.05, making the sprint a distinctly Canadian affair.
Three of the top five boats in that final flew the maple leaf on a lake ringed by the mountains of Chinese Taipei. No finishing times were published for the Open 500 m Grand Final, but the finishing order confirmed NDRC's strength across formats.
The club also reached the podium in two further finals. It placed second in the 500 m Premier Mixed Standard event and second again in the 500 m Premier Mixed Small Boat race, underlining its depth across boat classes.
NDRC was founded in Toronto in 2011 with the explicit aim of racing at the IDBF Club Crew World Championships. The club had previously listed a Premier Mixed 500 m world title from 2012 and a bronze from 2014 in its own records, giving its Hualien successes a long arc.
Two titles, one Hualien week
The championships ran from 29 August to 6 September 2026, organised by the Chinese Taipei Dragon Boat Association with the International Dragon Boat Federation. Liyu Lake provided the stage for the club's strongest international statement in over a decade.
NDRC left Hualien carrying the weight of two titles and the quiet certainty that the Toronto club had reestablished itself at the front of the world fleet.
