PRESS RELEASE – 24/4/13
Central Coast Sea Dragons – 2013 Australian Dragon Boat Championships
Central Coast Sea Dragons victorious at Australian Championships
The Central Coast Dragon Boat Club has drawn the 2012/13 season to a close in spectacular style with a show of determination, strength and teamwork at the 2013 Australian Dragon Boat Championships. Over 3000 paddlers and 100 clubs from all over Australia and for the first time New Zealand, gathered at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in April for the major event of the Australian Dragon Boating season. The clubs’ racing team, the Sea Dragons, won gold in the Open 10’s 500m event as well as bringing home 3 bronze medals from the largest dragon boat regatta held in the world this year.
Racing in the 200m, 500m and 2km races for Women, Men and Mixed teams was highly competitive with the best crews from around the country all vying for medals. Queensland teams Te Waka, Brisbane River Dragons and Manly showed themselves to once again be the teams to beat with early successes in the heats. Against this competition the Sea Dragon’s Master Women’s 20’s crew with 8 Australian Championship debutants, improved with every race and finished strongly in Fourth place in the 500m event, pushing the Brisbane River Dragons Crew for third place.
The Master Mixed 20’s crew performed magnificently, just missing out on a place in the tightly contested 200m race. A bronze medal in the 500m final was a great performance, with the crew finishing over 1 second faster than the heats and breaking 2.05 for the first time ever with a 2.04.44. In the gruelling 2km race the Master Mixed 20’s crew shaved 24 seconds off their time from last year to finish with bronze in a time of 10min 39sec. For a race of that distance the times were incredibly close with the Brisbane River Dragons winning in a time of 10min 30sec.
The Grand Master Mixed 20’s crew toiled hard in the 200m and 500m events against some very strong teams, but unfortunately finished out of the placings.
The most exciting result and an Australian Championship first for the club, was the gold medal winning performance of the Men’s 10’s crew in the Open 500m race. That race distance is the club’s favourite and the last 12 months of training had clearly paid off. After finishing third in the 200m final the day before, the crew lifted massively for the 500m final to finish in 2.07.65, three seconds faster than their heat time.
In the overall Club Championship the Central Coast Sea Dragons finished in equal fourth place. Nine members of the club also paddled with the highly professional NSW squad in the State versus State racing. With such tough competition from QLD the point score was almost even half way through the racing, but NSW powered through in the remaining races to claim victory.
It has been a year of change for the Central Coast Dragon Boat Club which is now in its 11th year, with a new coaching team in place and eight new members in the women’s crew, but the winning form of the club has continued and the results of these Australian Championships have qualified the Sea Dragons for the 2014 Club World Championships being held in Italy. Not ones to rest on their laurels, the clubs training will focus on paddling technique for the next few weeks, before getting back into the regular winter training schedule to build fitness ahead of the new racing season. The Central Coast Dragon Boat Club is on the look out for new members who are interested in trying the fastest growing sport in Australia. There is an open day this Sunday 16th June from 10am to 12pm at the club’s home next to the Marine Rescue building, Peel St, Toukley. Enquiries 0422 337 772.