Blog
17 - 21 Apr 2024: AUSCHAMPS - CHAMPION LAKES, ARMADALE (PERTH) WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Congratulations to our medalists at the AusChamps at Perth - Jacob, Haidyn & Lucy paddled in the Sydney Zodiacs team (under 24 yrs). Congratulations on our Western Region State members Deb, Caitlin & Graeme who made it to 4th place in their races (500m mixed, open & women, 1000m open & women), missing out on a medal by as little as 0.4 seconds.
5 Apr 2024: BATHURST DISTRICT SPORT & RECREATION COUNCIL AWARDS (BDSRC)
Haidyn Waldron was awarded the Junior Sportsperson of the Year (2023) tonight. She had many achievements last year including representing Australia in the Auroras team in Thailand. Our whole club is very proud of her.
17 - 18 Feb 2024: LUNAR NEW YEAR REGATTA - SYDNEY DARLING HARBOUR
Head Coach Deb Clarke: "A fabulous weekend. This was the first time in 8 years that Bathurst had a full crew for LNY. For those who experienced a Darling Harbour regatta for the first time I do hope you loved it. Congratulations on a great team and club culture, where everyone assisted by knowing their race numbers, seats and sides. Thanks to all those paddlers who graciously acted as reserves... I didn't think I would ever see the day when I had to leave paddlers out of our team. Very proud of our club. I received several comments for other clubs saying how much our team had improved over the last few years. Certainly a credit to your commitment to training. Let's share the love of paddling."
We improved our 200m race time down to 58 seconds, much better than in the past. Haidyn Waldron was awarded with a 1st place medal for competing in addition races with the Sydney Zodiacs (Youth team made up of paddlers from a number of clubs aged 10 to 24 years).
7 - 13 Aug 2023: 16th WORLD DRAGON BOAT RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS
We are proud to have two of our juniors, Haidyn & Jacob Waldron, selected to compete at Rayong-Pattaya Thailand representing Australia in the Auroras team. They both returned with medals which was a fantastic result. Haidyn earned a silver in the under 16s 2km and bronze medals for: womens 2km, mixed 1km, womens 1km, mixed 200m, womens 200m, mixed 500m & womens 500m. Jacob earned bronze medals for: under 18s mixed 2km, open 2km, mixed 1km, mixed 500m & mixed 200m.
12 May 2023: 2022 BATHURST DISTRICT SPORT & RECREATION COMMITTEE (BDSRC) AWARDS
One of our juniors, Haidyn Waldron, was nominated for a junior sports award for 2022. She did not win the award but the BPD club is so proud to have one of our members nominated. We had a pleasant evening at Bathurst RSL at the annual awards night.
Apr 2023: AUSCHAMPS ALBURY / WODONGA
Four BPD members competed at Gateway Lakes Albury/Wodonga for the dragon boat AusChamps 19-23 April 2023. Deb Clarke was the sweep for the NSW State Western Division team who achieved bronze medals for both the 500m 10s women & 500m 20s mixed crews. Haidyn Waldron paddled with the NSW Junior State Team and achieved gold medals in three events: 500m U18 mixed, 500m U18 women 10s & 1km U18 team pursuit. On the next day, she then paddled with the Zodiacs & achieved gold for both the 500m mixed & 500m women 10s events. On the final third day, she achieved gold in four events: 200m mixed, 200m women 10s, 2km mixed & 2km women 10s. Lucas & Lucy Downey also raced with the AUSDB Joeys junior team. Lucas achieved gold for the 500m U18 open 10s and silver for the following four events: 200m U18 open 10s, 2km U18 mixed 20s, 200m U18 mixed 20s & 2km U18 mixed 10s. Lucy achieved silver in both the 200m U18 mixed 20s and 2km U18 mixed 20s.
This amazing achievement was the result of focussed training & hard work which included travelling long distances to training locations in the Central West & Sydney.
26 Mar 2023: PARKES MASTERS GAMES REGATTA
Today was cooler than last week's 40 degC, a more pleasant 27 degC. It was a fantastic day of racing at Endeavour Lake Parkes, with our combined team of Bathurst & Orange Colour City. We won the 2km race & received gold medals & came 3rd in the 20s mixed 200m final to receive bronze medals - we were all delighted with the results.
19 Mar 2023: FORBES REGATTA
We had a day of summer weather of 40 deg C temperatures at Forbes even though it was supposed to be Autumn! It was a fantastic event and all our recent race training paid off with silver for the women 20s, bronze for the men 10s & women 10s. We came 4th in the Bridge to Bridge and 3rd in the Dash for Cash.
28 Jan 2023: LUNAR NEW YEAR REGATTA - SYDNEY
BPD travelled to Darling Harbour Sydney for this regatta, teaming up with Namoi Dragons from Narrabri. To quote coach Deb Clarke, "Thank you for your company and commitment to improving each race. Today we learned something about others, something about dragon boating and something about ourselves. A proud coach of a warm and inclusive group of paddlers."
14 Jan 2023: CANBERRA REGATTA
We had a great day in fine weather racing in Canberra, teaming up with Colour City Dragons (Orange). There were no wins but it was a productive day where we could gain more racing experience, especially for our newer paddlers doing a regatta for the first time.
10 Dec 2022: CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION & AWARDS
The club had a fun session of barefoot lawn bowls at The Greens On William with glorious sunny weather. This was followed by dinner at Paddys. Haidyn Waldron received the Most Improved Paddler award for 2022 and Felicity Baines & Graeme Housler received the Paddler's Paddler award for 2022.
6 Nov 2022: WESTERN REGION REGATTA (ORANGE)
The regatta was at Lake Canobolas in Orange and was a beautiful spring day with sunny weather. Bathurst teamed up with the newly created Namoi Dragons (from Narrabri NSW) to help them compete in their first regatta. There was a combination of 200 metre racing with women, men and mixed teams and also a 100 metre 'Dash for Cash' sprint race.
7-9 Oct 2022: CLARENCE 100
This was an amazing effort, paddling 106 km on the Clarence River in Grafton NSW over 3 days in the 10 paddler dragon boat. This event had kayakers, outriggers and standup paddleboarders also. A fine example of the team spirit that dragon boaters have paddling in the boat together to achieve a common goal.
26 Sep 2022: SCHOOL HOLIDAY KIDS SESSION
Today was the first time the club has done a come and try session geared towards school children. We had 5 kids and one parent have a session on the water which was beautiful and flat with no wind. Afterwards we had a BBQ lunch. Some of the children have expressed interest in trying further sessions which is awesome.
17 Sep 2022: MYALL CLASSIC
This adventure was at the beautiful Myall Lakes in the north coast of NSW. Our crew paddled the 10 paddler boat a distance of 27km in about 3 hours, a great achievement considering there were a lot of strong currents from lakes being over maximum capacity. There were other kayakers and canoe paddlers in the event, our team was the sole dragon boat.
18 Apr 2021: 10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
The BPD first paddled on Jan 2011 at Chifley Dam. The 10th anniversary celebration started with a paddle on a beautiful autumn morning with flat water with previous members John, Sarah & Seb and Colour City Dragons paddlers Phil and Jo as guests along with new paddler Aaron. Afterwards, we had a lovely lunch at B-Town above the Oxford Hotel. The reunion continued with previous paddlers Licia, Helen, Judy, Kate M joining us also with Liz from Colour City. Special recognition went to Deb, Vicki G, Lou, Linda, Rosemary, Sue J. and Laurence for their work with the club over 10 years but they also acknowledged that the whole club has worked together with everyone doing their own bit to add to the club's success over the last 10 years. There was a beautiful cake with an awesome blue dragon and a 10 minute video & slideshow showcasing the club's milestones over 10 years. It was a wonderful day and the club hopes to prosper for many more years to come.
20 Feb 2021: CANBERRA REGATTA
This was the first regatta the club participated in since the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. We competed at Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra on 20 Feb 2021. For the first time for a number of years, the team had a full boat of 22 (including sweep & drummer) compete in the 2km race and enough paddlers to race in the 200m events – mixed, opens & women (crews of 10 paddlers in 20s boats). This was a wonderful experience after a sad 2020 of cancelled events due to the pandemic. The Bathurst team included six new members racing at a regatta for the first time and four members of one family. This shows the sport can be enjoyed by all over the age of 11 years, including recreational paddling.
15 Nov 2020: VIRTUAL WALKING CHALLENGE
The Bathurst Pan Dragons have completed a 1648 km virtual walk in Spring 2020, organised by the Parkes club. This was to bond the regional clubs closer together following the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and fundraise for the Cancer Council. Walks could be done in spare time either individually or in small groups and each one was logged and sent to the Parkes club for tallying. $675 was raised for the Cancer Council by the Western Region teams with was a fantastic effort. Laurence, Linda & Sue Jones represented BPD at the presentation day at Lake Endeavour on 15 Nov 2020.
29 Jul 2020: EQUIPMENT TRAILER
The club now has an equipment trailer that was made possible from fundraising and a grant. This can transport equipment like the marquee, chairs, tables, paddles to events and regattas to avoid the need to mix up gear in different cars.
14 Mar 2020: TASMANIA - BEACHES, BRIDGES & BAYS
The club visited Tasmania again for the Beaches, Bridges & Bays Marathon which involved 40 km of paddling taking in Hobart's beaches, bridges and bays. Luckily the crew squeezed in this event just before all the COVID-19 lockdowns occurred.
7 Sep 2019: WYONG RACING - CENTRAL COAST
Wyong River on the Central coast was the location for a 30km paddling event on the weekend of 7th Sept. On a cool windy Spring day, two dragon boat teams were among the group of kayaks, canoes & standup paddleboarders. Bathurst Pan Dragons teamed up with paddlers from Wagga Wagga & Dubbo to form the Kombo Dragons crew. The event (first run in 1974) took them about 3.5 hours to travel the 30 km distance consisting of a 17km lap followed by a 13km lap, starting & finishing at Tacoma Reserve. The team included four new Bathurst paddlers who participated in their first long-distance paddling event. They were delighted to receive their first participation medals that the team received for completing the full distance.
10 Jun 2019: VOGALONGA - VENICE, ITALY
Nine members of the Bathurst dragon boat club have just returned from wining gold and silver medals after competing in the Venice Dragon Boat Regatta. The regatta was part of a three-day event in Venice, Italy over the June long weekend. The local Bathurst paddlers - Sally, Megan, Felicity, Susan, Yvonne, Vicki, Sue, Rosemary and Louise, joined with paddlers from the south coast NSW clubs during the event. On the Friday evening several crews paddled down the Venice canals and took part in the Opening Ceremony. Saturday was competition day with our “Aussie Down Under” team racing against crews from England and Venice and wining gold in the mixed and silver in the women’s event.
On Sunday the team took part in the annual Vogalonga event through the Venice canals. Over 2,500 craft and 7,000 competitors took part in completing the 30 km course finishing in the Grand Canal. The crew, carrying a boxing kangaroo and Australian flag was recognized and supported along the route with lots of “Aussie, Aussie Aussie Oi, Oi, Oi” being called out from Australian tourists who were watching the race from the famous Venice bridges.
25 Nov 2018: MASSIVE MURRAY PADDLE
Bathurst members Laurence, Deb, Lou, Vicki, Caitlin, Yvonne & Susan combined with paddlers from Orange, Dubbo, Parkes, Wagga Wagga & Moruya to form the relay team 'Wandering Dragons'. They achieved paddling 404 km down the Murray River from Yarrawonga to Swan Hill over 5 days (19-23 Nov 2018). It was a tremendous achievement in both paddling and logistics. The Wandering Dragons also came 2nd in their relay category and were awarded the Mark Thornthwaite trophy for fundraising the most out of all the other teams: $27 315. Each club supported a local cause close to their hearts, Bathurst donated to the Bathurst Womens Refuge. Special thanks also go to Geoff, Jen & Rob for helping us out for road crew duties.
4 Nov 2018: WESTERN REGION REGATTA - BATHURST
Today was the second dragon boat regatta at Chifley Dam for the Western Region DB Regatta. This regatta is an annual event at a different western region location each time. Clubs racing included Bathurst, Orange, Parkes, Sudu (South Coast), Kempsey (Mid North Coast) and Wagga Wagga. It was a fun day of racing, including community teams.
22 Sep 2018: BATHURST PARKRUN
Our club volunteered at the Bathurst Parkrun today (22 Sep 2018). This is a free timed weekly 5km run or walk to promote fitness & fun in the community. Volunteers had various roles including marshalling out on the course, photography, time-keeping and tail-walking.
25 Sep 2017: NEW 10 PADDLER BOAT
Bathurst Pan Dragons received their new 10 paddler boat today on 25 Sep 2017. This boat will enable us to train when we only have a few paddlers and the two boats will give us more flexible training options. Regattas are starting to feature races with 10 paddler boats (instead of the usual 20) so we can use the new boat to train for these races also.
29 Jul 2017: DRAGON BOAT REGATTA - HAWAII
Bathurst Pan Dragons recently had 10 members join with paddlers from Orange, Forbes, Sydney & Northern NSW to form the team "Dragons Downunder". The racing was at Ala Moana beach near Waikiki, Hawaii on 29 Jul 2017 with beautiful warm sunny weather and crystal clear blue water. The team grabbed a first and two seconds in the heats but was not strong enough to make it to the finals. They managed to catch the flag at the finish line for all their races - a Hawaiian requirement, different to Australian racing. No flag meant no official finish! All had a great time with some welcome summer weather and friendly Hawaiian hospitality including having lunch served by Hawaiian "Team Hart". The team also had five supporters who volunteered at the regatta doing tasks like boat loading - this was a requirement of overseas competing teams. The team also sampled Hawaiian activities including a luau meal, snorkelling, bushwalking and historic Pearl Harbour.
20 Feb 2016: FOUR BRIDGES - TASMANIA
Today was another BPD interstate regatta - the Four Bridges event in Tasmania. The challenge was a long 40 km paddle down the Derwent river, starting at the New Norfolk Bridge and going under the Bridgewater, Bowen and Tasman bridges. We had 11 paddlers from the Bathurst club combining with paddlers from Newcastle, Lithgow, Forbes & Orange. At the end, the paddlers had a nice luncheon prepared at the Lindisfarne Rowing Club.
4 Dec 2015: HEALTH PROMOTION OF DRAGON BOATING
Ros Kemp from Dragons Abreast Orange and Megan O'Farrell from Bathurst Pan Dragons were interviewed about the health benefits of dragon boating.
"Ms Kemp and Ms O'Farrell encouraged everyone to give it a go saying that no skill level was needed, anything could be learnt and that at the end of the day it was all a bit of fun."
18 Oct 2015: BATHURST BICENTENARY REGATTA
Bathurst Pan Dragons held their first home based regatta at Chifley Dam as part of the Bathurst 200 years bicentenary celebrations. “Dragon boating is the best fun you can have sitting down.” That was the motto on Sunday as the Bathurst Pan Dragons held their first regatta at Chifley Dam since forming in 2011. Clubs from Orange, Forbes, Lithgow, Dubbo, Wagga and Newcastle came to compete, but also present were several community teams, including staff and councillors from Bathurst Regional Council.
14 Mar 2015: NEW ZEALAND REGATTA - WELLINGTON
The Bathurst club had a crew compete in Wellington NZ for the NZCT Wellington Dragon Boat Festival. We combined with the Broadwater club from QLD to form a combined team and managed to come second in the Masters Championship Grand Final event.
16 Nov 2014: ORANGE REGATTA
The Bathurst Pan Dragons paddled in a boat as a combined team with Forbes Lachlan Dragons at the recent Orange Regatta on Sun 16 Nov 2014. Despite being a rainy & windy cold day, it did not stop some serious competition in the races of about 200 m in length. There were also teams from places including Orange, Dubbo, Penrith, Sydney & Canberra and also races with community teams. The mens 10s team in which 10 paddlers race in a standard 20 paddler boat came 2nd in their final with a time of 1 min 13.42 sec. The womens team with 20 paddlers came third in their final with a time of 1 min 18.97 sec. As the membership grows in Bathurst, we may be able to race as a complete team in future regattas.
19 Oct 2014: BATHURST PAN DRAGONS SHED OPENING
Today was a wonderful day for the club, our official opening of the boat shed at Chifley Dam. This was a result of years of fundraising and government grants. We had Bathurst Mayor Gary Rush and State Member for Bathurst Paul Toole at our ribbon cutting ceremony. We also had a come and try day including giving the mayor and state member a paddle in our boat.
2 Oct 2014: MEGAN COMPETES IN CHINA
Megan participated as part of the Pinnacle paddlers attending a Dragon Boating Festival in China Recently. Link to the Prime News YouTube video covering the story.
13 Jun 2014: ORD RIVER CHALLENGE
Pan Dragons were proud to have three members, Deb, Vicki & Louise participate in the 55km Ord River challenge at Kununurra (Western Australia). They participated with members of other Central West clubs, there were 7 dragonboat teams in the event. The start was at the Argyle Dam and the finish was at Kununurra where all 7 boats crossed the finish line together, emphasizing the event as a challenge and not a race.
13 Jun 2014: SHONA COMPETES AT THE NATIONALS - SUNSHINE COAST
Our club was proud to have member Shona Stewart participate in the nationals by paddling in the Regional NSW team. The event was at Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast QLD. She received a gold medal in the women's regional final, beating Southern QLD by 4 seconds. She gained gold again in the regional mixed final in the NSW A squad, beating QLD by 2 seconds. National selection was achieved after training in the Western Region squad which had paddlers from clubs including Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Forbes & Lithgow. It took a lot of training & hard work to get selected for the National team.
11 Apr 2014: WIN AT THE SPORTS AWARDS DINNER
Bathurst Pan Dragons were very pleased to receive the Bathurst Fire Protection Award for Sporting or Recreational Excellence in Performance Administration for 'Organisational Excellence' on 11 Apr 2014. We would like to thank all our hard working committee members, club members & sponsors who have helped the club - without these volunteers the club would not be able to operate. It was a great week for the club as in addition to last nights award we also received notification during the week that we have been awarded $5000 from the Bathurst District Sport and Recreation Council grants. This application was targeted at money to build our boatshed.
15 Dec 2013: GOVERNMENT GRANT TOWARDS SHED CONSTRUCTION
Our boat and equipment shed moved a step closer to becoming a reality this week when we were notified that we were successful in the 2013 NSW Government's Community Building Partnership programme and have been granted $10,000 for this project. Also in the financial news we are very pleased to announce that Jenny Woodhart and Joe Hurn from Genesys Wealth Advisers Bathurst are providing sponsorship to the club for another year. Sponsorship from Genesys is very special to the Bathurst Pan Dragons as it was this financial support that allowed the club to get off the ground.
6 Oct 2013: MASTERS GAMES - GEELONG VICTORIA
Pan Dragons had three members competing in the Masters Games at Geelong Victoria - Deb Clarke, Laurence Outim & Vicki Gransden. They joined paddlers from Orange, Forbes, Dubbo & Northern NSW to form the team 'Rogue Dragons'. The 'Rogues' managed to win some heats and place in the others. They were successful in bringing home bronze & silver medals. A paddler from Orange & one from Dubbo also competed with breast cancer survivors in a separate race and won a gold medal each. The games were held on the Barwon River in Geelong, Victoria.
10 Aug 2013: MASTERS GAMES - GREAT BARRIER REEF CAIRNS QLD
Over the weekend 9th & 10th August 2013, Deb Clarke and Louise Linke from the Bathurst Pan Dragons joined the Outback Dragons from Dubbo to take part in the Great Barrier Reef Masters Games that were held in Cairns, QLD. The team took part in two 13 km races over the two days. The team won both races beating the northern teams by over 5 minutes, a great effort.
18 Apr 2013: SQUAD PADDLERS COMPETE AT NATIONALS - SYDNEY
Thursday 18 Apr 2013 was another great day for Bathurst Pan Dragons competing at the Nationals at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith). We had four women Deb, Shona, Vicki & Lou in the NSW Regional Squad competing against paddlers from Regional QLD. They won their final by a dragonboat head 'whisker' to bring back another trophy. They had an agonising wait for a few minutes as the officials studied the 'photo finish'. The Regional team had paddlers from Orange, Dubbo, Forbes and Bathurst. We proudly displayed our State and National trophies at the Bathurst District Sport & Recreation Council awards night dinner on Fri 19 Apr 2013 at Bathurst RSL. The trophies will be shared between the Central West clubs who competed, with each club getting 'their turn' to have the trophies for a little while.
30 Mar 2013: PENRITH - SYDNEY REGATTA
The regatta at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith) on 30 Mar 2013 was a great day for us. We had some Pan Dragons members Shona, Deb, Vicki, Lou & Laurence paddling in the Western Region Squad with paddlers from Dubbo, Orange, Lithgow and Northern NSW. The womens team had the most success winning both of their two heats and also the final. The women in the Western Squad will be competing at the Nationals at Penrith on 18th April 2013 representing Regional NSW. We wish them good luck and congratulate their success bringing home their gold medals and the North v South v West Women Challenge trophy.
3 Feb 2013: RELAY FOR LIFE
Bathurst Pan Dragons is fundraising for the Relay For Life which is a fun, outdoor overnight fundraising event that brings communities together to celebrate and remember the lives of those who have battled cancer. The event starts on Sat 16 Mar 2013 with a Survivors Walk at 3.45 pm and runs overnight until mid-morning Sun 17 Mar 2013. All funds raised will go to the Cancer Council. Contact Sue Jones for more information about joining us (email pandragons.website@gmail.com for Sue's details).
Nov 2012: PROUD OWNERS OF OUR OWN 20S BOAT
We finally have our own 20s dragon boat, it was purchased secondhand from DBNSW as they were updating their regatta fleet. It is a BUK design which is still the standard for dragon boat racing in NSW.
18 Oct 2012: GRANT RECEIVED FROM BDSRC
Bathurst Pan Dragons were very happy to receive their $4000 grant from Bathurst Regional Council under their Bathurst District Sport and Recreation Council grants to put towards our own boat purchase. At the moment we rent our boat which has restrictions on use and also a yearly rental cost. All the local clubs who have received grants appreciate the local government's programme of supporting local sporting teams.
May 2012: NEW BOAT TRAILER
The club now has their dragon boat trailer made by Ian Hobba. It will enable the rented boat to be transported from the compound to the water at Chifley Dam without carrying the boat which is much appreciated by all members. Being road registered, it enables us to take the boat to training sessions or regattas away from Bathurst.
11 Mar 2012: PENRITH - SYDNEY REGATTA
We participated at Penrith again at the Sydney International Regatta Centre. We had over 10 BPD racing in a combined team with Lithgow.
19 Feb 2012: SQUAD COMPETES AT JINDABYNE
This regatta was at Lake Jindabyne as part of the Flowing Festival. Some of us participated training for the NSW Western squad to competete at state level.
4 Feb 2012: FIRST REGATTA AT SYDNEY'S CHINESE NEW YEAR REGATTA
Today was our first regatta at Darling Harbour Sydney for the Chinese New Year racing. It was exciting as there were many Sydney clubs competing plus the spectacle of Chinese dragon performances and the monks performing the "Dotting of the Eyes Ceremony".
26 May 2012: BOQ TRIVIA NIGHT
The Pan Dragons team of Shona, Deb, Laurence, Linda, Louise, Rodney, Tracey, Catherine & Kerry did a great job in coming third in the BOQ Trivia Night. The night raised funds for The Starlight Children's Foundation, a very worthy cause. We were only ONE point behind the winners.
15 Apr 2012: HENS AND ROOSTERS PADDLE
Hen's and Rooster's paddle for Alicia at Chifley Dam Sat 28 Apr 2012 at 3pm. Champagne and nibbles after paddling. Contact Shona for more info.
22 Jan 2012: FAREWELL DINNER FOR GILLY KEARNEY
We will be losing Gilly Kearney soon as she is moving to the South Coast. We are having a farewell dinner & drinks on 7.30 pm Thu 9 Feb 2012 at the Kelso Pub for a valued member & friend & Media Officer of our Club. We wish Gilly all the best and thank her for helping to get our club off the ground last year.
17 Dec 2011: FARMERS MARKET PROMOTION
Pan Dragons had a successful promotion and fundraising morning at the Bathurst Farmer's Markets today. We sold lots of raffle tickets & gave out business cards, flyers & fridge magnets. Thanks to Gilly, Shona, Laurence, Linda, Rosemary, Vicki, Sue, Deb & Helen for helping out. We hopefully will have a few new recruits from today's promotion. People could see our DVD 'Paddles Up 2011' playing and kids could pat our 'Puff' dragon's head !
27 Nov 2011: PENRITH - SYDNEY REGATTA
We gained some more experience at our second regatta at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith). There were some dramas like wind at the starting line which made the starts difficult, a boat collision resulting in a broken tail and boat seat (thankfully not ours!) and the motor dropped off the safety boat! We didn't win any races but gained some more enthusiam and experience to take to future training sessions and regattas. It was great experiencing the 500 m course for the first time so I can see some endurance training in the future for us.
13 Nov 2011: FIRST REGATTA - LAKE CANOBOLAS ORANGE
Bathurst Pan Dragons had their first regatta held at Orange today. Congratulations to our eight representatives - Shona, Linda, Laurence, Vicki, Helen, Deb, Louise and Gilly. We were cheered on by the Hopwood's, Deb's Mum and many people from Orange & surrounds. We combined with Lithgow, Orange and Forbes to make up the boat numbers as the newest clubs Bathurst & Forbes did not have enough participants for a full boat. Our mixed crew came third in their heat, womens crew came third in their heat, mens crew came second in their heat and fourth in their final. Not a bad effort for our first regatta - bring on the Penrith regatta on 27 Nov 2011 !!!
29 Oct 2011: NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED
Website uploaded for live viewing at 3pm Saturday 29 Oct 2011 at www.bathurstpandragons.org
28 Oct 2011: RED CHAIR BOUTIQUE FASHION PARADE
We had a successful fundraiser night on 28 Oct 2011 doing a fashion parade hosted by Red Chair Boutique (Bathurst) at Holy Trinity Church Hall Kelso. We would like to thank our sponsor Genesys Wealth Advisors (Bathurst) and many others like Beautiful Glow, Macquarie Skin & Day Spa, Vickers Winery, Dedicated to Fitness, Aspire Hair & Body Spa & White Rock Vineyard for donating prizes etc.
19 Oct 2011: KAMINI JAIN TRAINING CAMP - LAKE BURRENDONG
Laurence, Shona, Rosemary & Louise participated in the Kamini Jain camp at Lake Burrendong near Dubbo on the weekend 18-19 Oct. Kamini is an experienced Canadian Olympic paddler and the four from BPD were eager to learn better paddling techniques especially as they had only been dragon boating for less than 9 months.
16 Oct 2011: COME AND TRY DAY
Our ‘Come and Try’ day was on 16 Oct 2011 and we had 3 trips on the dam with people trying dragon boating. We also had radio coverage on B-Rock and an article in the Western Advocate newspaper. We also had some members in the Edgell Jog on 11 Sep 2011 - the rain didn’t dampen our enthusiasm!