Pink Steel Dragonboat Team

In 2005, Lynn Franks-Meinert founded a dragonboat racing team called Pink Steel to honor a friend who died of breast cancer. The Pittsburgh-based team is made up of cancer survivors and gives the women an outlet and support group. Dragonboating originated in China roughly 2,500 years ago, but recently it has made a cultish resurgence in some U.S. cities. A typical dragonboat resembles a long, slender canoe, ­albeit one elaborately adorned with a dragon head to ward off evil spirits. A crew of 20 rows in unison to the beat of a drum.

Last month the Steel City Dragons won the overall championship of the BCS division at the United States Dragon Boat Federation 2010 US Club Crew National Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Read Jon Wertheim's story on Pink Steel here: