A Whidbey Island-based dragon boat team wowed its coach Saturday in Seattle.

Stayin’ Alive, a team from the North Puget Sound Dragon Boat Club, completed five races in recreational division at the 12th annual Seattle Dragon Boat Festival and took home the gold medal in the Cancer Survivor’s Cup.

“I found the team to be outstanding,” said Suzanne Marter, the team’s coach from Coupeville who founded the club in 2006. “They were the best beginner team I’ve ever dealt with.”

Marter started the club as a group of mostly cancer survivors; however, membership has expanded to all able-bodied paddlers and split into two teams two years ago.

Twenty-four paddlers from Island and Skagit counties represented Stayin’ Alive on South Lake Union, where the team took a silver medal in the 500-meter championship race of Division 3, the slowest of the three recreational divisions.

But considering that several members were competing in their first race, the feat was impressive, Marter said.

“They all took it very seriously,” Marter said, “but they all had a lot of fun. We always say, it’s about food, friends and fun and fitness, not necessarily in that order.”

Stayin’ Alive, which trains in Oak Harbor, captured the Cancer Survivor’s Cup for at least the second time, Marter said.

The criteria for that race is that a minimum number of participants must be cancer survivors.

Marter, who is a cancer survivor, said the team is made up of both cancer survivors and supporters.

“Probably half the boat has been paddling six years or more,” said Norma Lisherness, a cancer survivor from Mount Vernon.

“This year, there are also new people who were paddling in their first race.”

A large tunnel of participants holding paddles greeted Stayin’ Alive on the shore after it won the Cancer Survivor’s Cup.

“It’s really life-affirming, emotional, a very cool thing,” Lisherness said. “It’s very touching.”