After 17 years, Eric Hamber Secondary School’s Eternal Dragon team finally captured gold in the Junior Championships held June 20-21 in False Creek. 
Last year, the Laoyam Eagles eked out the Eternal Dragons by .310 seconds in a photo finish. This year’s final race was a nail biter, too. Halfway through the 500 metre race, the Eternal Dragons surged steadily aheada of their rivals.
Bronze went to San Francisco while Eric Hamber’s second boat, the Eternal Gfiifths, placed fourth.
The False Creek Racing Canoe Club (FCRCC) of Vancouver is one of the most competitive and longest running junior dragon boat teams in the world. In 1989, the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival was started. One year later, junior paddlers were allowed in the festival.
In its 25 years, the team has developed teams that compete at the highest international levels and has had multiple podium finishes on the local stage at the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival/Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival, the national stage at the Canadian National Dragon Boat Championships, and on the international stage at the IDBF Club Crew World Championships and World Nations Championships, while still allowing for youth to try the sport for the first time. 
In August of 2014, the Eternal Dragon Boat team won 8 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal, the most of any team attending the Club Crew World Championships in Ravenna, Italy.