• Paddler participants must be breast cancer survivors.
  Your team must be an IBCPC member.
• Each paddling participant (including steersperson, drummer and/or paddling supporter) must furnish a health certificate.
• Each participant (paddlers and supporters) must submit an authorization to use images and personal information as well as a waiver of legal responsibility.
• Each crew must consist of a minimum of 22 individuals, including drummer and steersperson (sweep), and a maximum of 26 participants with 4 alternates. Any additional participants, or non-complete teams, will be inserted into the mixed team category. Drummers and steerspersons (sweeps) can be available to the mixed teams.
• Festival registration paid in full.

You may not participate as a paddler because you do not qualify as a breast cancer survivor. Nonetheless, you may register as a supporter.

Yes, because you are a breast cancer survivor.

Supporters may participate in the Festival (spouses, partners, friends or family members). Supporters can register as paddling supporters or as non-paddling supporters. There will be a (Paddling) Supporter’s race with crews formed exclusively by non-breast cancer paddling supporters. All supporter categories pay the same registration fee as the paddling participants.

The health certificate is mandatory under Italian law for all paddling participants. Please note that it certifies the overall good health of the individual and it is valid for one year therefore you should submit it after 8 July 2017 in order to be valid during the Festival in July 2018. The certificate must be correctly filled in and signed by a licensed medical doctor/physician. Every participant will be individually responsible for his/her health conditions.

The final deadline for submitting these documents is 30 November 2017. If not received by this date, the registration will be cancelled and the down payment will be forfeited. The templates for these documents can be downloaded from the Festival website under the REGISTRATION section starting from January 2017. The health certificates for all paddlers (Paddler and Paddling Supporter) must be completed and submitted by 30 November 2017. ONLY after you have uploaded the health certificate, will you be able to register participants as Paddlers and Paddling Supporter.

The Festival will accommodate 120 teams.

There are two types of registration:
1) EARLY BIRD: Euro 250 per person (now closed)
2) STANDARD: Euro 300 per person (20 January 2017 to 30 June 2017)

The EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION provides a discounted fee of €250 per person (minimum 22 paddlers, including steer-person and drummer). During the Early Bird period from 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2016, teams can register at €250 per person, a discount of €50 off the standard fee of €300. A non-refundable down payment of €100 per person (with a minimum of €2,200 down payment each team) must be made at time of registration. This discounted rate is only valid until 1,231 persons have registered or 31 December 2016, whichever comes first. The team will be registered for the event once the full down payment is received. The deadline for payment of the Early Bird balance is 31 May 2017. Supporters are also eligible for Early Bird Registration as long as they belong to a team with a complete crew (20 paddlers and 1 steersperson and 1 drummer). Only over-eighteen supporters may participate in the races reserved for supporters.

The STANDARD REGISTRATION provides a fee of €300 per person for participants who register during the period 20 January 2017 – 30 June 2017. During this period it is possible to register full teams by paying a non-refundable down payment of €100 per person (with a minimum of €2,200 down payment each team) until the maximum number of crews is reached (120 crews). The team will be registered for the event once the full down payment is received.

During the same period 20 January 2017 – 30 June 2017 it is possible for individuals from teams without complete crews to register at the fee of €300 per person by paying a non-refundable down payment of €100 per person, and pay the outstanding balance by 30 November 2017. Please remind each participant that they must be a member of an IBCPC affiliated team even if that person is registering as a single participant. When the full registration of 120 crews has been reached it will be possible for supporters to register.

The deadline for paying the balances of the registration fee is 30 November 2017. All the names of the participants should be input by this deadline. After this date, any unpaid registrations will forfeit the down payment and participation in the Festival.

If a team wants to register more than 26 paddlers (including steersperson and drummer) any additional participants will be assigned to and complete the mixed teams. Consequently, these participants can be included in the discounted Early Bird fee.

Registration for incomplete team individuals and/or groups (these will be formed into mixed crews) also opens on Friday 20 January 2017. All teams registering individual paddlers as part of mixed crews (from 1 to 21 paddlers) must be members of IBCPC.

• The registration down payment is non-refundable
• A team’s registration down payment is based on 22 persons (20 paddlers and 1 steersperson and 1 drummer)
• Both registrations down payments (Early Bird and Standard) are €2,200.

From 1 July 2017 to 31 January 2018: it is possible to complete teams or register new ones (if spaces remain) at €300 per person, until all slots are taken.

From 1 February 2018 to 1 April 2018: it is possible to complete teams, or register new ones (if spaces remain) at €350 per person, until all slots are taken.

After 2 April 2018: at the discretion of the Organizing Committee, it will be possible to register non- paddling participants at €350 per person. Due to the late registration period it will NOT be possible to include the race package, medal and Festival 2018 T-shirt).

When the balance of the payment is due and a team consists of less than 22 paddlers, including steersperson and drummer, they will lose the discounted price of €50 per person and will be included in the category of “Individuals from teams without full crews”, therefore the standard registration (€300 per person) will have to be paid.

Only participants under 14 years of age (born after 2003) can be registered at a lower price, a fixed price of €180, but they will not receive the souvenir bag. Participants under 3 years of age (born after 2014) can be registered for free entrance.

The roster with the list of attendees need to be turned in within 30 November 2017.

1 practice session between Wednesday and Friday before the races. This session must be booked through the website after the team’s full registration fee is received.

Saturday and Sunday 2 dragon boat races each day

Saturday and Sunday lunches at race site

Supporters’ race

Opening ceremony

Pink Parade

Sandy Smith Global Race

Flower Ceremony

Closing ceremony with aperitivo party

Race package (except registrations after 2 April 2018)

Medal (except registrations after 2 April 2018)

Festival 2018 T-shirt (except registrations after 2 April 2018)

Festival Programme

Name badge

Reserved athlete area

Team tent

Banner with team name

Access to the activities in the athletes’ area

Complimentary water at the race site

Transfers to the race village from the predetermined meeting points

Ambassador for each team

IBCPC levy fee

The International Breast Cancer Paddlers Commission (IBCPC) levy is one of the primary methods of acquiring funds for the IBCPC. For further information please visit the website www.ibcpc.com to learn more about the organization which is committed to supporting breast cancer survivors around the world through dragon boating.

Teams already members of IBCPC:

1. Follow the instructions for “IBCPC member teams”. Choose the country and the team name and then fill in the form with all the required information. By filling out the form and submitting the request, the team will receive an e-mail that confirms receipt of the request.
2. The Organizing Committee will verify the completeness of the request and the team will receive via e-mail the information to sign into the registration system.

Teams not yet members of IBCPC:

1. Follow the instructions for “teams not yet IBCPC members”. Choose the country and then fill in the form with all the required information. By filling out the form and submitting the request for membership, the team will receive an e-mail that confirms the forwarding of the request with instructions for paying the IBCPC membership fee ($100).
2. Once the membership fee is paid, IBCPC staff will verify the completeness of the request and the team will receive the information to sign into the registration system via e-mail.

Once registration sign-in information is received:

3. The registration fee down payment must be paid by bank wire, indicating the username assigned in the credential e-mail. The fees will not be able to be paid before receiving the username.
4. Once the down payment is received and registered by the Organizing Committee, the teams can continue with the preliminary registration for the Festival with the number of crews reflected in the down payment paid (one team every €2,200). During this step, the number of the participants available for mixed teams should not be indicated.

All the names of participants for whom a down payment has been made must be provided by 30 November 2017.

Payments will only be accepted in EUROS;
– All payments must be made only by bank wire using the IBAN and/or SWIFT codes, which will be sent to each team in the Welcome e-mail after online registration. The international bank wire transfer should be effected as “OUR”; this means that all charges taken by the local bank, by the bank receiving the wire (the Festival bank) and all intermediary banks must be taken from and paid for by the sender account.
The bank wire should contain in the NOTE section the team username (the alpha-numeric team supplied to the team during registration), the number of paddlers and the number of supporters.
– Any transfer fees and fees associated with deposit of the funds must be paid for entirely by the team. The amount that is effectively credited to the Organizing Committee’s bank will represent the amount paid by the team.

The teams must provide the names of all the participants online (NOT by e-mail) and fully pay the outstanding registration fees by 30 November 2017. Any team that has not paid in full by 30 November 2017 will be cancelled from the Festival entries and will forfeit the down payment. After 30 November 2017 and before 15 May 2018 any person who withdraws from participation in the Festival may be substituted by a teammate without any additional costs, and the participant personal data should be modified directly on the team account of the registration system. After 15 May 2018, any participant changes will be charged an administrative fee of Euros 20 for each change. If a participant withdraws and cannot find a substitute (among team members or supporters), he/she will forfeit the entire registration fee.

You will find a large choice of accommodations on the website TRAVEL page. A specialized agency will assist you with these accommodations.

The Festival will provide transfers to credentialed participants from predetermined meeting points in town, which will be indicated in January 2018.

Yes, paddles and/or life vests are available for participants who do not bring their own.

The Organizing Committee is always available for information or questions at: info@florencebcs2018.org

Practices sessions can be booked on July the 4th and on July the 5th esclusively by teams which have already inserted the NOMINAL ENTRIES. Is scheduled one traning session per full crew. No further practices sessions are scheduled, even if paid separately.
The morning of July the 6th is reserved for composite teams and the afternoon the race venue will be closed in other to allow the preparation of all participants to the Pink Parade and the Opening Ceremony.
You will find the button of TRANING SESSION BOOKING into your Team Account on the right column. When you book clicking on the button ‘book’ the system give you a confirmation message and the booking box becomes yellow and it will appear the delete click if you want to change the booking. You can book just one session for crew. At the bottom of the training session page you find the confirmation of your booking.

All teams must indicate the t-shirts sizes of all participants within February 28th through the apposite button into the Team Account.

Starting from May 16th, we will be printing the participants’ ID Cards.
Before we begin the printing process we would like to kindly remind all participants to promptly check the details of the data they have submitted, also the photographs and the qualifications inserted.  In case of wrong details send please an email with the right details exclusively to the following email address web@florencebcs2018.org   Remember please to include into the subject line the name and ID code of the team and the name and ID code of the person with the wrong data. We wish to advise that should we have to reprint any ID Card, because of incorrect data, that starting from May 16 there will be an administration fee of Euros 20 per card to correct this.

(this is only possible for participants of the same category- same qualification). Replacements are allowed until 15th May 2018. From May 16th, there will be no more replacements allowed and if there is any withdrawal after this date then there will be no refunds issued on fees paid.

Beginning from May 16th, Nominal Entries will be closed and it will no longer be possible to change names to your paddling squad or to insert crew compositions. Therefore, all paddlers not inserted into Nominal Entries will be included in the composite crews, without the possibility of any change. If your team does have extras paddlers, then you must definitely chose by the date above who will be available to join the composite crews.

Use of lifejackets is compulsory at this event, please refer to Bulletin No.2
Hornet 202a (IDBF approved) lightweight wooden paddles (painted pink) and approved life-jackets will be provided by the Florence Festival Organizing Committee for those who do not bring their own life-jackets or paddles. These items are available to use for the duration of the festival without any additional charge. If some teams wish to use their own life jackets, this is acceptable, provided the life jackets are approved and accepted internationally, below find please a sample. However, we will NOT be allowing the “waist- belt” type of life jackets for this event.