Recently, almost half of the members of the Rainbow Region Dragon Boat Club flew south to Sydney for the Chinese New Year regatta at Darling Harbour.
The regatta is an annual highlight for Sydney’s Chinese community, Australian dragon boating and this local club.
‘Rainbows’ look forward to the competitive and social side of this weekend. There’s the thrill of the races, and because the harbour is only short, the stopping suddenly to avoid the wall. In the nine years the club has participated there are stories of near misses. Then there’s the off-water fun of being amid Sydney’s Chinese New Year celebrations and great team camaraderie.
All the Rainbow Region dragon boat teams made it through to the finals. These were master women, master mixed, master open (men only) and cancer survivors. In all these finals, Rainbows came up against younger teams; and in master mixed more blokes per team.
A highlight was the Rainbow Combined Master Open (men) which was the brainchild of the club captain, Deborah Gibson. This team gave men from five regional clubs the opportunity to paddle at the Chinese New Year regatta. About an hour before their first race together, they met, talked race tactics and went on to compete in the finals.
Another club highlight was the cancer survivors team (18) who raced against full boats (20). They missed out on a trophy by 0.5 of a second. Next year!
For more information about the Rainbow Region Dragon Boat Club please check out their website: www.rainbowdragons.com.au.
