Dragons Abreast Penrith
nsw@dragonsabreast.com.au (Regional Representative)
and penrith@dragonsabreast.com.au
June 2010
Do you want to try something new? Have fun? Get fit? Make new friends? Have lots of adventures? Then try dragon boating! Join us! We’re the Penrith pink ladies! We aim to always support each other, maintain a public profile that promotes breast cancer awareness, and always promote the search for a cure.
Dragons Abreast Penrith, also known as Pendragons Abreast, was formed in 2004 and has been a member of our national charity, Dragons Abreast Australia, ever since. We are a cancer support group, within Pendragons Dragon Boat Club. We compete, with our supporters, in all DBNSW regattas as part of our sports crew. In addition, there are two special events each year where we paddle in 100% survivor boats. These are the social and community day at Darling Harbour during Chinese New Year each February, and the Dragons Abreast Regatta, also at Darling Harbour, when we paddle as a 100% Breast Cancer survivor crew in the DA challenges.
At other times, we paddle with our supporters and sports crew in the boats, whether in official regattas, or special social events. The most recent being the Ord River marathon where we paddled 55km from the Argyle Dam down the the lily pond at Kununurra. There were 15 of us in the boat, 9 survivors, one supporter, a past supporter, two sports crew members, plus twin sister Jo, and husband Geoff Eldridge, of Jenny Petterson, an inspirational member of of Dragons Abreast Australia, on the first anniversary of her passing.
Pendragons Abreast has a current membership of 18 - 14 survivors, and 4 supporters. We are looking for new members, so if you’d like to try something different, give us a call - Jan on 0428 242 667, or Gillian on 0413 151 467. We have members from Penrith, the Blue Mountains and south to Camden, but we’d like to include members from Parramatta west, south and north.
We practise at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Castlereagh Rd, Penrith Lakes. This Olympic class venue provides us with showers, toilets, and ample parking. Few clubs ever have the opportunity to train at a venue of this calibre and the Pendragons are the envy of others.
In winter we practise at 3.00pm on Sundays. During daylight saving months, we train three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays at 6pm, Sundays at 4pm. For those who are really keen there are additional outrigger sessions on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6am, or whenever the gates open throughout the year. We assemble on the island, in the breezeway between the boatsheds, 15mins before the advertised training time, to allow for a warm up, and to launch the boats.
We have our own accredited sweep who keeps you straight, as well as one in training, and experienced coaches from our sports crew ensure that we use correct technique to become fit, lean and mean for the season's competition. This usually begins at Dobroyd Point in late August. Opportunities are available for everyone to learn to sweep or coach.
Our activities in 2010 have been many and varied. We competed in the full official progamme of events with our sports crew during the DBNSW season. In addition, we raised funds with, and supported in training, two social and community crews for the Dragons Abreast regatta at Darling Harbour last October. These crews were, ‘Butterfly Survivors’, a group of hearing impaired ladies who wanted to join us as supporters, while ‘Blackheath Afloat’, members of Blackheath’s recently formed surf life saving club, came in as bronze medallists on the day. It was a very exciting and rewarding event, and we also hope, next October, to add a third team, a survivor team to compete in the DA challenge at Darling Harbour again.
Pendragons tackle the awesome Ord River, Kununurra, WA
The challenges were huge – not only did we have the daunting task of paddling 55kms, fighting our fatigue, having to trust the endurance training we had done, but the narrows, crocodiles and magnificent scenery we passed through were very distracting. See a crocodile? Prize for the best spotter, but when everyone stopped paddling to look, and all leaned left, it was a real challenge for our sweeps to keep us on an even keel! To keep ourselves going, “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, became our theme song, as we were dwarfed by the magnificent river cliffs of the mighty Ord. It as an experience none of us will ever forget. Some of us will be back, but for three of the girls, it was their last dragon boat event ever. These original members of Pendragons Abreast, who have worked continuously with the rest of us to establish the club’s present strength, are hanging up their paddles. It is up to the rest of us now to build on our strengths to ensure Pendragons Abreast continues to provide essential support and friendship for each other.
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