Dragon boat racing team of breast cancer survivors readies for annual festival

Sep. 24—It's not just that Lynn Jablonowski didn't have any boating experience. She was also actually afraid of the water.

But she'd overcome breast cancer, and with help from members of the Hearts of Steel dragon boat racing team, she overcame her fear of water, too. Everyone on the Hearts of Steel team is a breast cancer survivor, and they will host the 2023 Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday at North Park Lake in McCandless.

"The first two years, I wore a full flotation device in the boat," said Jablonowski, an O'Hara resident who joined the team three years ago. "As I'm on the water more and more, I've mostly started wearing the smaller one that most other team members use."

The nonprofit Hearts of Steel is part of the Three Rivers Rowing Association. Its members race "dragon boats," thin, ornately decorated row boats that trace their roots back to southern China more than 2,000 years ago. A version of the sport also was part of the Panathenaia and the Actian games in Ancient Greece, which were forerunners of the modern Olympics.

"We're a support group that doesn't act like one," said Cindy Lott of Murrysville, who's been part of Hearts of Steel since its inception. "Once you get involved with a team like this, it's the camaraderie, and being active and healthy, that keeps people here."

Unlike Jablonowski, Lott couldn't wait to get on the water.

"Just being out there is my happy place," she said. "And when you need the support, it's there. I had a couple relapses and needed it a couple times. And I looked around at all these strong women, and it makes you feel like, 'OK, I can do this.' "

Jablonowski said she liked the idea of being with a group of women who are all breast cancer survivors, of all ages and skill levels.

"I never saw myself as an athlete, but I went out on the water and thought, 'Wow, this is something I can do,' " she said. "I also wanted to recover the strength I lost during radiation and chemo."

Last year, 23 teams took part in the festival, which is always held at North Park Lake. In addition to fun and bragging rights, teams also can compete in a qualifying event for the Eastern Regional Dragon Boat Association.

And while the racing will take place on a lake, Jablonowski said her favorite part is team practices on the Allegheny River.

"You're really in touch with the river, unlike riding on the Gateway Clipper or a pontoon boat," she said. "You see the trees; we saw a bald eagle, egrets, blue heron, all kinds of ducks. You see all this wildlife. And then as you head downriver, we also get to see the beautiful city we live in, and it's a whole different view than what you get driving across a bridge."

For more information, see PGHdragonboatfestival.org.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .