Dragons Take On Queensland – and Australia

State Titles – Lake Kawana:

The dragon boat state titles were held at Lake Kawana on 17 and 18 March. Eighty-eight races were staged over the two-day event. The competition was intense with teams travelling from as far north as Townsville and as far south as Tweed Heads to take part. Any team travelling that far will clearly want to do their utmost to take a win or two.

Proving that dragon boating is a sport for all members of the community, the age of paddlers ranged from juniors as young as 10 years old to the more senior members at 80+ years old.

The Cooloola Dragons competed in the women’s tens in the 200-metre races and although they did not come away with a win, they certainly put up a good show and held their own.

On the second day of competition, the Cooloola Dragons joined forces with the Hervey Bay club to paddle as the Wide Bay Warriors. This turned out to be a huge day for them starting early with a two-kilometre race followed closely by six 500-metre races.

Considering the age and mixed gender of the teams against whom we competed, our team of one male and 19 female paddlers (not including the Steerer and the Drummer) paddled very well to be solidly competitive.

Come on you men in our community, you can’t expect the ladies to ‘fly our flag’ all by themselves! Come and give dragon boating a try-out – you will be surprised how much fun it all is and how fit you can become.

In the afternoon, there were further 200-metre races and the Cooloola Dragon ladies did very well with only seconds between the finishing times between all the teams.

National Titles:

Three of our regular paddlers Kerri, Lyn, and Michelle along with Sandra our head coach, who is going in an official capacity as team manager, have been selected as part of the Central Queensland Regional team to compete in the National Titles.

These are being held across four days at Wodonga in late April. These paddlers have been training hard for the past few months and are looking forward to getting into competitive action.

Good luck team!

20th Anniversary Celebrations:

Cooloola Dragon Boat Club’s 20th anniversary is rapidly approaching and we are ready to celebrate. All past and present members are invited to a ‘Roaring 20s’ evening.

Further specific details will be published in coming editions but if you wish to take part in this celebration, please contact Club Secretary Elaine at elaine.dimock@bigpond.com to reserve your place. It should be a roaring evening of fun, friendship, and festivity.

Don’t forget that the Dragon’s Lair Café is open to serve delicious snacks and brekkies on the third Saturday of every month at the Tin Can Bay markets. We hope to see you there.

Toni Archer