Team USA Breast Cancer Paddlers (second team from the bottom, blue jerseys) racing at the International Dragon Boat World Championships in Germany last year. Photo by Joe Meschke Jr., 19 Shots Photography.

In the summer of 2025, Paula Murray was a part of history. Through the United States Dragon Boat Federation, 39 women from across the country were chosen to be on the first ever Team USA Breast Cancer Paddler (BCP) dragon boat team. That team, led by head coach Angela Long—a breast cancer survivor and the programs coach at Nathan Benderson Park—competed in the inaugural BCP division at the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany. That team competed valiantly, missing out on the gold medal by three-hundredths of a second, and returned home with three silver and three bronze medals.

Murray, a 20-year breast cancer survivor and Sarasota-based strategic design consultant, is now the executive producer of a documentary, Chasing Dragons—Survival Was Just the Beginning. The documentary, currently in production, will chronicle the building of the next Team USA BCP squad that will compete for gold in the 2027 IDBF World Championships in Hong Kong.

“It’s not just a sports film,” says Murray. “It is going to be about these women, about their belief that survivorship doesn’t just stop when you ring the bell after chemotherapy. There’s so much that you can do—ultimately it’s a positive story and will be fun to watch.”

Team USA will be decided through rigorous selection camps happening throughout the year, culminating in a week-long camp in Sarasota in May, with the final 60-80 paddlers fighting to be one of the 30-some members of the team. A little over 20 of the members of the 2025 squad are trying out—those women, as well as paddlers new to the program, have been asked to do self-taped video logs detailing their training and breast cancer journey throughout the year. At the camp in Sarasota, more extensive, filmed interviews with the paddlers will be conducted. “Imagine it’s a self-video of ‘it’s 5:30am, still dark out and I’m going to the gym before work,’” says Murray. “Those stories, along with the interviews at the camp, will delve into their breast cancer journey, why they decided to try out and what it would mean to them to make the team.”

Team USA Breast Cancer Paddlers (second team from the bottom, blue jerseys) racing at the International Dragon Boat World Championships in Germany last year. Photo by Joe Meschke Jr., 19 Shots Photography.

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