NEIGHBOURS… The Lachlan and Endeavour Dragons combined to form a formidable team for the Nowra regatta last weekend.
The Parkes and Forbes Dragon Boat Clubs combined for the first time for the Nowra Waterdragons Fire Recovery Regatta last weekend, and came home with a very good result.
The Shoalhaven river’s weather made it a memorable and challenging event, but the Endeavour and Lachlan Dragons proved to be a force to be reckoned with finishing sixth out of a total of 21 teams that included some of the top teams from around NSW.
The Nowra Waterdragons’ two-day flag-staff event included a 9km paddle around Pig Island, but the event was called off halfway through when the weather deteriorated creating dangerous conditions. The Parkes/Forbes took part in the 2km replacement event early on Sunday morning.
The team also competed in the 200m races and moved up the ranks in the three heats with a third, second and first place in the last one in a very competitive time of 48.77 giving them a spot in the major final with the other top seven teams on the day.
After a wobbly start in the final, the team recovered to finish sixth overall. “The team of Forbes and Parkes paddlers combined well to form a very competitive outfit who went onto perform extremely well in the challenging conditions on the Shoalhaven River,” said the Lachlan Dragons coach, Chris Favell.
“It was an excellent effort by the team to make the major final in such a competitive event against a range of very strong clubs from across the south coast, Canberra and Sydney regions of NSW.”
Endeavour Dragons coach Deb Abela said she was very proud to see both teams combine so easily both on and off the water. “We compared well to the other clubs and achieved some of our best times ever.”
Janine Hando, who supported the crew, said it was great to see the team work together to achieve a fantastic result. “Fun, friendship and determination were what I saw.”
The Parkes Dragon Boat Club is looking forward to hosting its very first regatta at Lake Endeavour on 30th May as part of its third anniversary celebrations. Teams from the Central West and possibly further afield will be competing in a 2km turn race, 200m races and tribe, while new comers will be able to try out too.