Cooloola Dragon Boat Club – January 2023
The Cooloola Dragon Boat Club wishes every member of our community a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!! We hope that 2023 is kind to you all!!
The great news is that two of our club members — Sandra Binnie (Wally) and Lyn Worthey have been selected to be part of the Central Queensland Regional Team that will compete in the National Titles in April to be held at Wodonga, Victoria. The selection process involved a rigorous range of land-based and water-based tests. Congratulations to “Binnie” and Lyn. We wish them every success when they finally compete. We will keep you posted on their training progress and their achievements at the Nationals.
Cooloola Dragon Boat Club and Hervey Bay Dragon Boat Club joined forces as the “Wide Bay Warriors” to compete at the recent Manly Regatta. The regatta was held on 27th November at Lake Kawana. This is a regatta which gives the teams a thorough and exhausting workout. The first race is a 2km race which was then followed by ten 500-metre races. Bearing in mind that each crew has to paddle 500 metres to get to the start line, each race means that the crews have to paddle a full kilometre for each race.
The Warriors were very competitive in all their races and made it to the Grand Final. Unfortunately, Mother Nature stepped in and a wild storm was closing in on the lake which would arrive during the final races. The paddlers decided to call off the remainder of the event and head for home. And by all accounts, the trip home along the Bruce Highway was not at all pleasant with heavy rain reducing the normal highway speeds to a crawl. Nonetheless, all the teams who competed had a wonderful time and the weekend was a great success.
The final regatta for the 2022 season, “Christmas on the Creek”, was hosted by the Dragons Abreast Gold Coast Club on the beautiful Currumbin Creek. This is generally regarded as a “fun weekend” with most of the teams wearing seasonal fancy dress and putting decorations on their tents and marquees. Prizes were awarded for the best costumes and marquee decoration. Congratulations to all who took part in this wonderful, friendly competition.
December is also the time when the Cooloola Dragon Boat Club have their final paddle of the year and hold their Christmas break-up party. At this final event on 18th December, the club’s coach makes awards to club members whose performance throughout the year has been exceptional.
CDBC members have a short break over the Christmas/New Year period to relax and recuperate and get ready for the coming year. Training recommences of 5th January and the first regatta of the year is on the 22nd January at Lake Kawana. This is the Dragon Boat Queensland regatta and many city and regional teams are expected to attend.