Namoi Dragons shine at regattas

November was a busy month for the Namoi Dragons, with six of the club’s keen dragon boaters travelling to take part in two prestigious events.

Those six club members included Alison Young, Aimee Fladrick, Chris Nunn, Karen Kirkby, Trudy Staines and Gerard Lonergan, who all lined up at the Western Region Regatta in Orange on Sunday, November 3. They were supported by Jenna Fladrick at that event.

The Namoi club members linked up with the Waratahs Black team in mixed and open races, women’s 20s and men’s 10s. Waratahs Black was a combination team of dragon boaters from the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Parkes and Namoi.

The Namoi women also combined with the women from Waratah Reds to paddle in the women’s events.

Karen and Trudy also competed in the Dragons Abreast races and the women’s 10s with the Penrith Pen Dragons, winning both heats to make the final and returning home with gold medals.

To be accredited to host youth groups, dragon boating clubs need to have a level three sweep. To gain accreditation, an individual must sweep a number of races across a minimum number of regattas. Karen has put her hand up for the Namoi Dragons and club officials advised that she did an awesome job as sweep for their races at the Western Region Regatta, sweeping at least four races in trying conditions.

Alison, Gerard, Karen and Trudy then travelled to the Gold Coast for the Pan Pacific Masters Games from Thursday to Saturday, November 7 to 9.

They competed for Kombo Dragons, which is made up of teams from the Western Region including Bidgee (Wagga Wagga), Bathurst, Orange, Namoi and Mudgee.

The Namoi members competed with the Kombo Dragons in the over 40s women’s, over 50s women’s, mixed and open 10s (10 paddlers in a 20 seater boat) in the 500 metres on the Thursday, 200 metres on the Friday, and the 5km races on the Saturday.

The four Namoi members said that it was well worth the experience with a lot of races each day, and that it was a valuable learning experience, with Deb Clarke from the Bathurst Pan Dragons and Phil Lambert from the Orange Colour City being managers and coaches for the team.