Dragons Abreast ACT - Annual Challenge Regatta 24 October 2009

LAKE BURLEY GRIFFIN TURNS PINK FOR THE
ANNUAL DRAGONS ABREAST DRAGONBOAT CHALLENGE

Dragons Abreast ACT Corporate Challenge Regatta 2009

In perfect weather there was fun on Saturday 24 October as paddlers from all walks of life, from diplomats to medical students, took to the water in dragon boats races to compete in the Annual 2009 Dragons Abreast ACT Dragon Boat Challenge at Lotus Bay, Lake Burley Griffin. It was a special honour to have the DA Peninsula Dragonflys from Mornington Peninsula, Victoria as well as the Encore ACT/DA Albury Wodonga Brave Hearts competing this year. We raised funds for Dragons Abreast Australia, BCNA, Otis and other organisations supporting women on the breast cancer journey.

800 novice paddlers competed in 38 corporate teams representing the Embassy of the United States, the European Union, Calvary and Canberra Hospitals, corporations, government departments, gyms and schools paddled to demonstrate that breast cancer affects everybody.

Joy Burch MLA opened the event in a blaze of pink, with banners and a BCNA Mini Field of Women (pink silhouettes representing the 13,000 women and 100 men diagnosed with breast cancer in Australia each year) by the lake. Spectators came listened to the Djembe Djam African Drummers and were massaged by CIT massage students. Senator Kate Lundy, DA ACT Patron, awarded Pink Lady Shield and other novelty prizes. All the volunteers from DA family and friends, Canberra Dragon Boat Association, BCNA, Rotary and other groups made it a very special day. It was terrific to have so many new members helping out in all sorts of ways.

Marion Blake, Coordinator, DA ACT

What a regatta! Congratulations to absolutely everyone involved for organising and participating in such a successful day and in particular to Marion Blake and her small organising team. The ABC and WIN TV news had excellent coverage of the regatta. There was a great image and article in The Canberra Times on 25 October. As an onlooker for the first time, I felt so very proud of DA as everything ran so smoothly and efficiently. I had time to wander and talk to some of the participants and everyone was so enthusiastic in their praise of the organisation and the fun they were having. The dragon spirit was soaring! (right) Canberra Times 25 October 2009

Anna Wellings Booth

Dragons Abreast ACT Corporate Challenge Regatta 2009

Full race results

If you took photographs on race day and would like to see them on the regatta website, please click here for instructions. See our photo gallery of this and previous regattas.

Awards

Winner of the Pink Lady Shield for the fastest team : Cross Fit Training. Their motto is "your workout is our warmup!" - we believe you, Cross Fit, awesome performance!

2nd Place: Hotel Realm (Doma)

3rd Place: ANU Scrubbers

Full list of all places in all heats and finals here

Sylvia Flaxman Dragon Spirit Award for the team most in keeping with the ethos of DA Australia : Med Onc Movers

Maggie Sharp Award for fastest all female team : KiwiRoos

Health Heroes Award for fastest hospital/medical team : ANU Scrubbers

Best dressed team : RadOnc Raptors

Best War Cry : Pioneer Training

Best Team Warm Up - Goodwin AllStars

Best Team Bio – on time, informative and entertaining: EuroStars

Best decorated campsite – including a sign with name of team : Encore/BraveHearts

Most organised team - Marshalling and into boats on time : Burgmann Green

Highest fundraiser - Highest amount raised over & above registration : to be announced at the post-race thank you night

FUNDRAISING TIP

Build your own fundraising page: at My Cause and ask your friends to donate.

TO FIND OUT HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN FUNDRAISING PAGE, PLEASE GO TO OUR FUNDRAISING CHEAT SHEET

PARTICIPATING TEAMS & THEIR BIOS

We all enjoyed a very special day on Lake Burley Griffin - each and every participant came off the lake smiling broadly.

Heartfelt thanks from Dragons Abreast ACT for your participation, and thanks especially to all the wonderful volunteers, including the absolutely outstanding CDBA teams who ran the barbeque, the boat wrangling, the warmups, timing, race starts, set up and pull-down of the site, sweeps, drummers, extra paddlers, and much much more. A great day - see you all next year!

Thanks for your generous support