Katherine Wiryaman

“Dragon boat changed everything for me. I was always someone a little afraid to take risks for fear of failing. When I joined Boston 1 in 2016, I had a feeling I was by far one of the worst paddlers, and that feeling was solidified with the results of my first fitness test, when I ranked 14th out of 16 women. Needless to say, I didn’t make the roster for the Hartford festival that year and logically that should have been the point where I decided this sport wasn’t for me and gave up. But something went off inside of me. I remember thinking to myself, “well, right now I'm at the bottom, so how do I go up from here?”

My first off-season, I basically lived in the weightroom at the gym. I got my coach to show me the basics of lifting, I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials, and I busted my ass three days a week trying to get stronger. In particular, I wanted to get my first pull-up.

At that time, only two women on the team could do pull-ups, and I was determined to join the ranks. It took months of training and a lot of failure, but the mix of euphoria and disbelief I felt when my chin finally cleared the bar for the first time is something that will stick with me forever.

Since joining Boston 1 three years ago, I have had so many moments like that, of thinking something was beyond reach until we put in the work and discovered it has been within our power all along.

Everyone wants the glory of the podium, but only a few know the unbelievable number of freezing/sweltering/rainy hours of practice it takes to get there. I know first-hand how much a team can accomplish if it commits to a vision and I feel very lucky to have been around to see Boston 1 grow in huge ways. One of my favorite lessons: it never gets easier, you just get stronger.”

[Katherine Wiryaman (Boston, USA), paddler on Boston 1.]

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