A fired-up Rainbow Region Dragon Boat Club team, the ‘Rainbow Warriors’, were among the 3,000 paddlers competing at the 2014 Australian Dragon Boat Championships at Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Australian and New Zealand dragon boat clubs challenged each other, and states raced against states.
This was Rainbow Dragons’ first national competition and their training regime began late 2013, resulting in them holding their own against some very experienced teams.
Both the women’s 10s teams qualified for the 200m semi-finals, edging out many of the other teams. On the following day, despite being short two paddlers, Rainbow Dragons made the major final in the 500m standard boat (20 crew) event. This race went on to be a showdown between two world champion teams, the Currumbin Divas and Brisbane River Dragons.
Later in the week of racing, four Rainbows Dragons who were recent NSW silver and bronze medalists went on to represent their state, bringing home one gold and two bronzes.
In the true community spirit of dragon boating, Rainbow Dragons barracked loudly for all the northern NSW teams (and the Blues), who offered their support in return.
The 2015 Aus Champs will be held in Perth.
