‘Get on board’ invite the Namoi Dragons

Narrabri Shire’s newest sport and recreation club, Namoi Dragons, has been launched and is now ready to take to the water.

The dragon boat group has recently formed, appointed a committee and held its first meeting.

“We have been overwhelmed with the interest and many potential paddlers have already expressed their enthusiasm,” said committee president Karen Kirkby. “We are expecting many more and all are welcome from 12 years up – there is no upper age limit.”

The dragon boat club is all about ‘fun and fitness’, Dr Kirkby said.

The club has got off to a flying start with the generous donation of a training dragon boat from Dubbo-based Outback Dragons.

The local enthusiasts see a future with the opportunity for sporting clubs, other organisations and individuals to join for fun and fitness, and with the likelihood of a competitive crew to take the challenge up to other dragon boat clubs – of which there are many in Australia.

When the idea of a local dragon boat club was floated the community response was prompt and enthusiastic.

“We have had a 22 seat dragon boat donated to us by Dubbo Dragons to launch our club and from our recent open day at Narrabri Lake we quickly received 69 expressions of interest from potential members,” said committee president Karen Kirkby.

“We named our club Namoi Dragons to make sure we embrace the whole Narrabri shire.

“We want to see members from right across the shire.”

The club held its first committee meeting last week and is now officially named and incorporated.

Spectators and participants were impressed how quickly the first time paddlers at the Narrabri Lake open day got into their stride, synchronising their stroke and speeding their boat through the water.

Dr Kirkby said there was already interest from local clubs and sporting bodies which could use the boat for fitness training.

Businesses will be welcome to join in – corporate competition is common in other centres.

“We would really like to have shire schools involved as well,” said Dr Kirkby.

Dragon boating ranges from purely social recreational and fitness paddling to very competitive national and international contests on harbours and waterways across Australia and the world.

Age doesn’t matter – anyone from 12-years-old and up can be paddler and examples abound of 80 and 90- year-old dragon boaters with all ages, male and female, in between.

Paddlers get fit while having fun.

Dragon boat clubs are social as well. Some, like the Dubbo Dragons, have ‘esky nights’ as fundraisers on water foreshores.

So, what exactly is a dragon boat?

Dragon boat racing originated in southern China and has been a traditional Chinese sport for over 2000 years.

Modern dragon boat racing began on Hong Kong harbour in 1976 and has spread across the world – clubs have formed in 89 countries since 1991.

The International Olympic Committee is considering including dragon boating as an Olympic sport.

Boats are typically made of carbon fibre, fibreglass, and other lightweight materials. The Namoi Dragons’ boat is fibreglass.

The boats are usually rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails.

There are 18 to 20 paddlers in a standard boat, plus a drummer to beat out the paddlers’ speed and a steering ‘sweep’, as in a surfboat, in the stern.

Paddlers usually buy their own paddles and the paddles and the three-metre sweep oars are often a popular target for corporate sponsorship, as is naming rights for the boats.

The Namoi Dragon boaters look forward to eventually taking part in competition and the hosting of a local regatta is ultimately on the agenda.