Victoria’s Capital City Boxing has teamed up with local veteran boxing coach and president of the Greater Victoria Amateur Boxing Association, Chris Jones, to start a new amateur boxing program out of the gym.

“This will be the only Amateur Program running out of the City of Victoria right now although there is one in the western community,” says Sandy Ibrahim, owner of Capital City Boxing. “I’m thrilled to have Chris’ expertise head up the team and look forward to a great year. Chris and I come from pretty different backgrounds, but we are both excited about how well we work together.” Jones, who is in his 60’s, started boxing in his teens and Ibrahim, 40, took it up 5 years ago training out of Cappy’s Gym in Seattle. “We look forward to developing a team of boxers that can compete with other Island boxing clubs as well as those elsewhere in B.C.”


Besides offering a place for amateur boxers (ages 11 and up) to train, the gym also provides boxing training for fitness and recreational boxers, where Ibrahim says, “you can train like a boxer, but not bleed like one.”

Fitness Boxing has become recognized as one of the top trends of the decade and continues to draw a wide clientele due to the positive results of increased cardiovascular health, strength, self confidence, and stress relief.

Capital City Boxing is located at 506A Alpha Street in the industrial district in Burnside. Visit www.ccityboxing.com or call 250-386-UBOX (8269).

On Saturday, the festival continues with the popular steamboat parade and on Sunday there will be the Sailpast in which all vessels participating salute the festival’s salute vessel. The salute is made by “dipping” or lowering the boat’s ensign to one third from lower end of the hoist. (US vessels, which do not lower the U.S. flag, dip their yachting ensigns instead.) The festival’s honorary Commodores, John and Diane VanDerbeek of Seattle, will be aboard the salute vessel, HMCS ORIOLE, a 101-foot yacht and the longest serving ship in the Canadian Navy.

Dragon Boat Festivals – “Duan Wu Jie” in Chinese — are traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Most believe dragon boat festivals were established to commemorate a great Chinese patriot poet, Qu Yuan.

In Victoria, the annual Dragon Boat Races and Festival are an enormous celebration of Chinese culture and life that bring thousands downtown to the Inner Harbour. More than seven dozen teams from Victoria, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and throughout North America compete in elaborately decorated “dragon boats” with teams of paddlers.

The Festival begins at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, August 15^th, with the traditional Eye Dotting ceremony at Ship Point, just below the Tourist Information Centre on the Inner Harbour and directly in front of the Empress Hotel.

Taoist priests will “awaken of the dragon” in an ancient rite that precedes every dragon boat festival all over the world. To “awaken” the dragon boats, red paint is dabbed on the eyes on each dragon boat’s “blind” figure. The priests lead dignitaries down to the water’s edge, where the dragon boats await. The guests take brushes in hand, dip them in pots of red cinnabar paint, and then dab the eyes on the “blind” figurehead of each dragon boat. According to Chinese mythology, the dragon sleeps in the mountains and travels to the water once awoken.

Following the ceremony, there will be entertainment and performances on the outdoor stages set up at Ship Point From 5:00 to 9:00 pm, hundreds of Chinese paper lanterns will be illuminated and displayed on the Festival site in a show of support for those who are fighting, have beaten, or have succumbed to cancer.

On Saturday, August 16^th, the Dragon races begin at 8:00 a.m. The different teams will race down the 500-metre-long racecourse, from Laurel Point to the Royal London Wax Museum. At 12:15 p.m., the fittest and fastest senior teams will race in the Grand Dragon Challenge… showing the younger racers how it’s done. The best place to view the races is from the bleachers arranged along Ships Point. (Click on the video below to see the 2007 races.)

The races continue Sunday, August 17^th, again beginning at 8:00 a.m. The finals will take place starting at 1:00 pm, with the fastest teams of the Festival duking it out in the final heat – around 4:15 pm.

All weekend, you can catch free, live entertainment at the Dragon and Forbidden City Stages as well as sample Asian delicacies at the Forbidden City food court.

Victoria’s historic Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in Canada. To see a panoramic view of this beautiful and historic district, click here.