A MAN of many firsts himself, Jason McKay insists Jamaica will score a major ‘first’ in international dragon-boat racing, a sport introduced to the island late May-early June after which he put together a mixed team, which won the island bronze at the fourth annual Bahamas Chinese International Dragon Boat Festival at Goodman’s Bay in Nassau, August 30-31

Pointing out that Jamaica can be world-beaters in dragon-boat racing, McKay said, similar to any other sport, trained athletes, backed by a scientific approach and management, Jamaicans can succeed at any level.

“Dragon-boat racing, like any other sport, has to be looked on scientifically. It requires upper-body strength, a strong core, aerobic and anaerobic capability and, most important, symmetry of all members participating.

“We have an abundance of that in Jamaican athletes, who are already competing in other sports. It does not require as much natural talent as other sports. These muscles can be developed and the symmetry can be trained,” said McKay.

Having been the first to combine local martial artists from rival systems, a squad he captained to 50 unbeaten international team matches for Jamaica, McKay has an unmatched formula for sporting ‘firsts’.

The first Jamaican International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) martial artist to attempt qualifying for the Olympics, 2004, a World Taekwondo Federation-rules event, McKay realised his dream of shattering taekwondo’s political glass ceiling by managing his young prodigy, Kenneth Edwards, to historically qualify for London 2012 as a combined team member with black belts in karate and ITF.

McKay next took aim at the International Sports Kickboxing Association’s Amateur Members Association World Championship, again the guinea pig, being the first Jamaican to compete and medal at the event in 2012.

Under McKay’s leadership as ISKA AMA Jamaica’s president, the island has dominated tatami (mat) fighting at its World Championships, Akino Lindsay and Richard Stone winning a combined 18 gold medals. Lindsay won a fourth double-gold in Vienna, Austria, last year. Stone has eight ISKA AMA gold medals to his name.

Testing another ‘first’ at May’s inaugural Jamaica Dragon Boat Festival, McKay captained his firm’s McKay Security team to gold in the mixed division, a victory which led to him leading a squad of two teams to represent Jamaica in the Bahamas.

That experiment led to Jamaica’s historic mixed Jamaica winning bronze in the 200-metre Major Mixed Final out of eight teams and finishing fifth of 25 teams, qualifying as the fastest second-round qualifier for the 200-metre Major Final Open.

Explaining his return as a managing-athlete after a seven-year sojourn, McKay said he had to abort his 2018 martial-arts season due to injury but missed the excitement associated with competing.

“The injury to my leg kept me out of competition. Dragon-boat racing does not require significant use of my legs but rather a strong upper body, stamina and the ability to coordinate with a team. I have all those attributes,” he pointed out, adding that he had kept physically fit by competing in pistol-shooting competitions and football.

McKay lauded the Jamaica Dragon Boat Federation and Chinese Benevolent Association of Jamaica for their respective roles in establishing “a strong foundation”, which makes it easy for serious sports management to function, unlike Olympic martial arts.

“Dragon boating is not yet an Olympic sport so there is less politics,” McKay pointed out.

Dragon-boat racing debuted as an Olympic demonstration event at Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, a three-day dragon-boat festival was staged at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, the official venue for the Olympic canoe sprint competitions.

“We just need to find our footing and our perfect fit to get the right athletes in the same boat and to ensure that training, commitment and sponsorship exist within that mix,” he said, pointing to how easy it was for the McKay Security sports programme to draw on its sponsored athletes from martial arts, football, bodybuilding, netball and pistol shooting to forge a bronze-medal winning team and fifth-best overall open team.

“Both karate and WTF Taekwondo are system-based sports within the Olympic world, which carries with it a lot of politics.

““I can supply martial artists and I can assist with sponsorship but that’s as far as it goes. It’s how martial-arts politics works. However, Karate has very competent people administering the sport and has some good junior athletes with serious promise,” McKay noted.

McKay believes dragon-boat racing is set to take off locally with Jamaica’s recent success, fired by the CBA providing the required assets of boats and equipment valued at “millions of dollars and free coaching”.

Jamaica’s McKay Security-sponsored squad returns to training in November for the Caribbean Championships, May 2026, in the Bahamas. However, a tournament is being eyed in South America before year-end.

MCKAY…we just need to find our footing and our perfect fit to get the right athletes in the same boat a