Renee Henry, of Portland, paddles during a Rose City Rockets practice on the Willamette River on Thursday, August 20, 2026, in Portland, Ore.
Amanda Loman for OPB
It’s 6 o’clock on a sunny Portland evening and 22 people in a dragon boat lift their paddles in anticipation. The Rose City Rockets are about to train for a 500-meter race.
Some say they’re lucky to even be here.
“I was near death,” Coach Lori Godfrey says. She was diagnosed with Stage 3B breast cancer 16 years ago. “That was very serious.”
Everyone on this boat is either dealing with cancer or has dealt with it in the past. But as they dig in to practice, you wouldn’t know. There are smiles all around, grunts of effort and sweat.
“Once I got diagnosed,” Godfrey says. “I was like, ‘I’m going to do everything I can.’”
The retired real estate broker underwent chemotherapy. She had a lumpectomy. She did acupuncture. Dragon boat racing was not on her original list, but she learned that many women find paddling beneficial for breast cancer. She was at a Susan G. Komen charity fundraiser when she heard about the idea.
All images: Amanda Loman for OPB.
“There were all these booths that were set up,” she says. “And Pink Phoenix, which was the first all-breast-cancer team in the U.S., here in Portland, they had a booth and it looked exciting.”
Godfrey had never set foot in a dragon boat. But as an adventurous athlete, she could understand how exercising with people in a similar predicament might be cathartic.
“I thought, ‘Well, this looks fun. And this looks outdoorsy. And this is on the water. How great!’”
That was 16 years ago. Godfrey is now in remission and coaching the Rose City Rockets, who are headed to the world championships in Taiwan next week.
“We’re pretty excited,” she said.
To earn a berth at the championships, the team had to medal at the Club Crew Nationals in Sarasota last year. The Rose City Rockets will compete in the all-cancer paddler division.
As the coach of a whole team dealing with cancer, Godfrey has to keep a close eye on the athletes.
“I have to know where people are, physically and emotionally,” she said. “Maybe they’ve had a recurrence? We have people that are in active treatment, meaning they’re taking treatments right now, going to chemo.”
Katherine Benenati is one of the team members. She lives in Salem but drives to Portland a couple of times a week for practice. She learned about the benefits of paddling from her doctor while fighting Stage 3 breast cancer.
“I thought, ‘I am 46 years old. I have not done team sports in 30 years. I’m not that much of an athlete, and I’m a terrible swimmer,’” she laughs. “But I am getting on one of those ... boats.”
All images: Amanda Loman for OPB.
Benenati is now 50 and still on cancer medication. She’s had chemo, radiation therapy and a lumpectomy. At times, treatment made her so tired she could hardly eat. But she still wanted to paddle.
“I wanted something that would give me hope and something to cling to. And I wanted that to be something physical,” Benenati explained.
She said paddling is about being around people who are on a similar journey.
“It was so amazing to watch the paddler in front of me and to see the way their body moved,” she said. “And to see how fast and strong they were. And then to realize I was keeping up. I was matching them and their energy.”
The vast majority of the paddlers in the Rose City Rockets are women. But there are a couple of men. Stephen Schuitevoerder is a 68-year-old psychologist who got skin cancer.
“Paddling has been one of the best discoveries I’ve made in Portland,” he said, smiling.
He said the exercise brings his blood pressure down.
“You’re on the river and suddenly you’re in nature in the middle of the city,” he said. “And there’s eagles out there, herons, seals, fish jumping. It’s just exquisite.”
The National Institutes of Health has found men sometimes deal with cancer diagnoses differently than women. They may have cultural ideals that involve stoicism and invulnerability. But Schuitevoerder said he just gets a great sense of camaraderie from paddling.
“What’s amazing is the whole group comes together. And we become human beings, wrestling with what it’s like to be human.”
The team will work together next week on a global stage, hoping for a world championship.
The opening ceremony for the 15th International Dragon Boat Federation’s Club Crew World Championships starts on Monday. The competition runs through Sept. 6.
The Rose City Rockets dragon boat team trains on the Willamette River on Thursday, August 20, 2026, in Portland, Ore.
Amanda Loman for OPB