Johnathan Rivera
I first picked up a paddle in 2005 for my brother’s corporate dragon boat team in Tampa. That started my love affair with paddling. From that experience, I engaged my employer to compete in our local dragon boat festival in Tampa. I then joined the local competitive dragon boat team (Tampa Bay Dragon Boat Club) where I experienced paddling against other regional clubs over a couple of years.
After a brief hiatus from paddling, I returned to the water in 2010 and set my eyes on trying to make the US National Dragon Boat Team. I tried out for the team which would compete at World Championships in Tampa in 2011, but I didn’t make the cut. I took the next two years and improved to make the team. That’s where I expanded my paddling to include outrigger canoe paddling. Since then, I’ve made the US National Dragon Boat Team in 2013 (Szeged, Hungary), 2015 (Welland, Ontario, Canada), and 2017 (Kunming, China) winning multiple team medals, including two golds in 2017.
I’ve challenged myself at competitive outrigger canoe paddling with my OC6 club (Kai Aniani), competing with the team at many local and regional events, and also racing solo on my OC1 at many of the same events.
- 4/13/2018 -- Sharkbite Challenge (Dunedin, FL)
- 4/28/2018 -- Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Races
- 7/16-21/2018 -- Gorge Downwind Champs (Hood River, OR)
- 8/30-9/3/2018 -- Queen Liliuokalani Canoe Race (Kona, HI)
- 9/28-10/1/2018 -- Clearwater Beach Classic