Comedian and Recording Artist Nicole Arbour, known for her viral videos, cheerleader spirit, and seemingly random side quests has added another accolade to her resume: Dragon Boat Medalist. Silver Medal to be exact.
Over the weekend, Port Royal Jamaica was host to the first Caribbean Cup and Jamaica Dragon Boat Festival which saw athletes, and ambassadors from China, Canada, Philippines, Japan, Portugal, America, and across the Caribbean compete to take the titles in Co-ed, Women’s, Mens, and Country divisions.
While Nicole initially went to cheer on her fiancé, aka recording artist Skygrass who was brought in to compete for the Generals, on finals day the women’s open division announced they needed a last min additional athlete. Within five minutes Arbour was in a jersey, and in the boat to compete in the first heat going for the title.
Had she ever been in a dragon boat before or followed a drummer as they do in the over 2000 year old sport? No.
Did she help lead her team through not one, but two qualifying heats and into the finals, taking the silver medal as the crowd and international media erupted into applause? She did.
“It was on my bucket-list to try dragon boating, how couldn’t I jump in!” Arbour said. “I appreciate that people were impressed, but this is a long time coming. I grew up canoeing in Canada and have been beating girls in races since Girl Guide camp. When they lost they’d have to finish my crafts. True story. But for real, dragon boat racing is an incredible ancient sport and this whole day felt like I was in mix of Cool Runnings and Mighty Ducks. I just go team’d (Nicole’s famous catch phrase) and cheered for us the whole time we were on the water even when our arms were burning and we were running out of energy. We boss’d up, finished strong, and I’m so happy we got to leave with the silver medal.”
Nicole’s teammate’s were seen celebrating and taking photos with her after the race, while her teams caller (drummer) Mei grabbed her hand to run on stage and accept the medal presented by Chen Daojiang, the Chinese Ambassador to Jamaica, and representatives of the Prime Minister of Jamaica.
Nicole wasn’t the only winner in her family as Skygrass was seen celebrating on stage after taking home both the silver in Mens Open division, and bronze in Co-ed.
“Thank you to the Jamaica Dragon Boat Federation, his excellency Chen Daojiang, and our sponsor General Food for being so welcoming. This experience was really special, and I hope to compete again in the future! It’s magical. Everyone should try it. Xiexie.”
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