Pink Steel, a dragon boat team of breast cancer survivors, won a national championship during the U.S. Dragon Boat Federation competition in Chattanooga, Tenn., July 23-25.

Dragon boat racing is one of the world's oldest sports, having originated in China about 2,400 years ago. A worldwide revival began about 25 years ago, and tens of thousands of people now take part in about 60 countries.

A dragon boat is long, slim, colorfully painted, pointed like a canoe at both bow and stern, with a dragon's head at the bow. (Its original purpose was to scare away evil spirits.) A typical dragon boat crew consists of about 20 paddlers, a drummer who beats out cadence for the paddlers on a large ceremonial drum, and a helmsman who holds the tiller at the stern of the boat.

Pink Steel is one of the crews fielded by Steel City Dragons, one of two dragon boat teams in Pittsburgh. Lynne Franks-Meinart, a founder of Steel City Dragons, was inspired to start a breast cancer survivor team after her friend, Carol Raber, died of breast cancer in 2005.

In Chattanooga, Pink Steel defeated four other breast cancer survivor crews to win the Breast Cancer Survivor division National Club Crew Championship title.

Pink Steel's victory was celebrated with a photo essay in the Aug. 11 issue of Sports Illustrated.

More than 50 women now belong to Pink Steel, Ms. Franks-Meinart said. They practice three times a week, and they practice hard. At one practice, one of her athletes paddled so hard that her prosthetic breast was dislodged and floated to the back of the boat, Ms. Franks-Meinart said.

Their coach drives them hard, Laurie Montgomery told Sports Illustrated, and that's just what they need.

"When you survive breast cancer, when you've stared down death, you want to thrive, and Coach gets that," Ms. Montgomery said.

The hard work paid off in Chattanooga.

"We won," said Nancy Gebrowski, 54, of Murrysville. "We did not win easy. We had to fight, just like you have to fight through cancer."

"It was my first race," said Jean Francis, 70, of Glenshaw. "I was more excited watching than I was racing."

"It was really, really hot," said Diane Tucek of Shaler. "It made coming home to Pittsburgh feel like Alaska."

"It was probably the best competition we've been around," said Lynn Wegrzynek, 57, of Murrysville. "Now that breast cancer survivors are recognized on the national level, the competition is getting harder. We're not just a recreation team. We're out to win."

"I've never been on a team for anything in my life, so being able to win a national championship was really, really spectacular," said one woman., who declined to be identified.

"The depth and strength and athleticism of our women was beyond my expectations -- and I have high expectations," Ms. Franks-Meinart said.

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