On Saturday, May 15th, the second edition of the Lion Explorer took place on the Venetian waters of San Giobbe, with snow-capped mountains in the background: an initiative around dragon boating, organized by the Ca' Foscari University of Venice in collaboration with the Iuav University of Venice and CUS Venezia.
The University of Vienna was also involved – one of a total of nine participating university sports centres. The teams competed against each other on a 150-meter course in dragon boats, each paddled by 12 people.

After the traditional Dragon Eye Dotting Ceremony, a Chinese ritual for luck and good luck, the competition started – and Vienna got off to a strong start: In the first heat, we took second place, before we improved in the semifinals and finished first. In the grand final, we finally had to admit defeat to the hosts from Venice and neighboring Padua – and thus ended up in an excellent third place. A great performance by the whole team!

On the following Sunday, we were able to round off the experience in a special way: We sailed through the canals of Venice with the dragon boats – an unforgettable end to a great weekend.