Dragon boat teams from the Redlands Sea Dragons proved their mettle on the water bringing home medals at State and national competitions.
The club vied against 72 clubs at the State championship held at Kawana on February 17 and 18 and brought home a silver medal in 200m senior C (paddlers are aged more than 60 years) and bronze in open B (men’s team aged more than 50 years). One of the team members in the senior C team is aged 79.
The teams then competed at the Australian championships from March 3 to 8, winning silver in the senior C 1km race.
Two paddlers Roger Hogan, 52 and Shane Shepherd, 51, both of Redland Bay also brought home gold medals, as paddlers with the Queensland squad. Hogan competed in the senior A open 10's 500m and senior A mixed 100m relay and Shepherd in the senior B mixed 20's 500m, senior B open 10's 500m and senior B mixed 100m relay.
Coach Cora Acworth said it was the best the club had ever done.
“We are delighted that all of our competitors came away with medals. We are such a small club compared to many of the other clubs. We are thrilled that we had two of our paddlers win gold with the Queensland squad and that we also won medals in club verses club,” she said.
Ms Acworth shares her coaching of the teams with Inge Meier, both also doubling as paddlers themselves.
Competitive paddling is done in crews of 10 or 20, with a further two crew as a drummer and sweep (steerer).
Ms Acworth said the club offered competitive and social paddling with paddling held from 7am to 8am on Saturday and Sunday and from 6pm to 7pm on Thursdays at Redland Bay.
“It’s a great way to be on the water with friends. It’s great exercise and a chance to laugh and have fun,” she said.
“We are moving into the season when dolphins will come alongside and one time we had so many prawns jump into the boat at night, we had enough for a feed. We also see some turtles,” she said.
Interested people can phone Jude Mclean on 0407 650 316 or visit redlandseadragons.com