"It's amazing to realise how many people battle breast cancer and have been through the same thing. It will be a very special time," she said.
Twenty-five women make up the team, and a four further women would travel to Italy for support.
The Boobops, which was made up of women aged 42-74, recently won bronze and gold medals at regional and national competitions earlier this year.
The team were also no strangers to international competition, where they travelled to the same event in Florida four years ago.
Since that competition, the team had been fundraising for the Florence event where more than $90,000 had been raised to make the Italian trip possible.
To say thank you to all of their supporters, the Boobops were having a "thank you" Italian themed lunch on Sunday.
"It's in recognition of everybody who has stood by us; there has been a lot of commitment from our supporters over the years," Birchall said.
She said the group, which was founded about 13 years ago, was very proud to be heading off to represent New Zealand. Two other Kiwi teams from Wellington and Christchurch would also be at the event.
"We pretend we aren't competitive, but we really are."
IBCPC Dragon Boat Festival
The IBCPC Dragon Boat Festival is held every four years under the International Breast Cancer Paddler's Commission. The festival is an international non-competitive participatory event targeting Breast Cancer Survivors teams who engage in dragon boat activities as post-operative rehabilitation. Born from the idea of a Canadian sports medicine physician, Dr Don McKenzie, about 20 years ago, dragon boat paddling has become a rehabilitation therapy for tens of thousands of men and women worldwide, who have undergone surgery.
