Only a week out from Christmas, the Carrum Cup is the last racing event on the 2017 calendar.
Due to family commitments and holidays, not all Brave Hearts were able to make this year’s Carrum Cup. However, a small contingency, combining with the Mt Beauty Dragon Boat Club, made it to race over the weekend. Showing true support for the small Alpine club.
The team raced where they could, ambitiously entering the Premier Mixed and Master’s Open categories, unfortunately missing out on progressing to the finals races.
A women’s master’s crew was also entered, making it directly to semi finals with a first place in their heat. With strong competition in the semi final, the women’s crew made a close 3rd, making the final based on the times.
The final for the women’s master’s race was neck in neck, with Melbourne Flames, Peninsula Dragonflies and Ballarat Golden Dragons competing against our crew. Our women just missed out on a placing this time, coming 4th by only .01 of a second.
All up our paddlers had a great time competing with Mt. Beauty, really cementing a friendship between the clubs. Plus it is great to see the Mt. Beauty members get a chance to compete with similarly strong teams.
This was our second time at Nagambie Lakes Regatta Centre this season, this time to compete in both 500m and 200m events as well as a sweep’s turn race to keep us on our toes. And once again, Brave Hearts put everything in and were well rewarded for their efforts.
Last weekend Brave Hearts attended the Dragon Boat Victoria hosted regatta at Nagambie Lakes Regatta Centre. This regatta formed the first competition regatta of the season and a welcome return for a Nagambie Dragon Boat event.
Brave Hearts represented Albury Wodonga in four categories over the course of the day; Masters Womens 10s, Masters Mixed 10s, Premier Mixed 10s in 200m races, as well as a Open 2000m Sweeps Race.
Prior to the regatta, learner dragon boat sweeps, Julie and Gavin headed down to the regatta centre to take part in a sweeps accreditation course, and we are pleased to welcome them as new L2 provisional sweeps for Brave Hearts! We are also happy to note that their first regatta was a success, with no incidents taking place.
Our masters’ paddlers showed their dedication to our younger paddlers this Regatta. Charlotte showed us her skills in the stroke seat, and the team raced against strong teams Yarra River Dragons and CYSM.
The premier team applied a lot of pressure against the other teams, and although they didn’t manage to make the finals, they kept the other crews honest and competed well!
The masters women’s crew started the day with an amazing race in heat 1 coming off the starting line strong and finishing the race in first place against Dragon Masters and Geelong Gold.
The masters women’s crew had new sweep Julie in her first regatta for the day. Julie showed excellent skill in backing into the pontoons swiftly, and kept the boat straight though out the race.
Our masters mixed team performed amazing in their first heat, taking out the fastest time for the category and securing their place in the finals. Feedback from the banks was that the start was powerful, strong and the team instantly had the jump on Geelong Silver and Dragon Masters.
The team backed up their solid run and took out 2nd place against Warriors Dragon Boat Club, Geelong Gold and Dragon Masters.
Brave Hearts regrouped for the last race of the day and showed a magnificent effort in the 2km sweeps race competing in the first heat against Golden Dragons Composite and Geelong Dragons. Our team was seeded as the last to start, quickly catching up to Geelong in the first 500m and keeping close on their tail throughout the race.
The race run smoothly, with new sweep Gavin taking control of the sweep’s oar for the 2000m. Gavin kept the boat steady around the turns, and skilfully handled the passing of the Golden Dragons composite crew on the last turn just before the 1500m mark.
Overall Brave Hearts crossed the line second, still on the tail of Geelong, placing the crew in first for the heat when the times came in. Brave Hearts completed the race, breaking the 12 minute mark at 11:40.