Editing Montreal International Dragon Boat Race Festival (section)

==Dragon Boat Racing as a Modern Sport==

Dragon boat racing has been practiced in China by around 20 million people. But over the past 25 years it has spread beyond Asia to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa, to become an international sport with a huge following. Nowadays it is among the fastest growing water sports and remains amazingly the largest team sport, with over 60 million participants in over 50 countries. The biggest dragon boat festival racing events outside of Asia are in Canada. Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal each host races featuring more than 180 25-person crews. These races take place over two days in mid-to-late June or July trying to correspondent with the 5th Day of the 5th Month custom. As co-operation plays an important role in successful dragon boat racing crews, Dragon Boat Racing has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport, during which friendship, strength and endurance are developed among the participants.