Brave Hearts DBC headed to Carrum for the 2022 Victorian State Championships over the weekend. We were up for some fierce 500m and 2km racing in some pretty windy conditions. Combining with the Mount Beauty DBC in the Women’s and Mixed 20s events and also with Beechworth DBC and Yarrawonga DBC in the Open 20s events meant we got plenty of racing on the day.
We had been training hard to prepare ourselves for the final regatta of the season and our results on the day did not disappoint. We paddled hard and stuck to our race plan and it was a huge day for all involved but we were happy to come away with the following results,
Snr A Mixed 20’s 500m – 2nd Place
Snr A Women’s 20s 500m – 3rd Place
Women’s 20s 2km- 3rd Place
Prem Open’s 20s 500m- 3rd Place
Open’s 20s 2km- 3rd Place
Snr A Open’s 10s 500m- 3rd Place
Thankyou to all our members who paddled hard and have dedicated themselves to training for this event, our volunteers for all your work on the day and our other regional clubs for racing with us and helping to build team camaraderie in our area.
We are so proud of our team and we are looking forward to what comes next for our wonderful club….
Cross Border Championships
What an exciting three days of racing held on home waters. This was the first time we have participated in such an exciting event.
Run by DBV and held at Gateway Lakes. Brave Hearts raced in the Senior A category over the three days. Racing consisted of a 1km pursuit race in which the Open’s crew raced alongside and paced the women’s boat to enter a combined time, as well as 100m, 200m and 500m races.
It was a busy weekend for all but was a great way to top of the season.
State Champs in Nagambie 2021
While State Champs looked a little different this year due to Covid, we were excited to get back on the water as a team and race hard. Competition was hard but the camaraderie shown by the members was amazing. We pulled together and came away with a second place in the Open’s 10s category. Well done Brave Hearts on a solid day of racing…..
Back on the water at Falls Creek
After a very long and unsteady start to the season Brave Hearts were all excited to get back onto the water in our first regatta for the year.
The results on the day were a great reflection of the hard work paddlers have put in to get back on the water. A first in the Cancer Survivors and Supporters race (in honour of Di, Brenda and Ian), a first for the Senior Women’s Freeburgh team and a second for our Open Team.
A big thank you to all paddlers, new and old, young and not so young, for the commitment you made to training and the exceptional manner in which you conducted yourselves this weekend. True Brave Hearts.
State Champs on home waters.
What a fantastic weekend of racing at the Vic State Championships! Beautiful weather, perfect location and an awesome atmosphere at Gateway Lakes… our home turf. Two days of competition saw us walking away with 5 State Titles, 3 silver and 3 bronze. Results as follows:
🥇 Snr A Women’s 10s 500m- 1st 🥇 Snr B Open 10s 500m – 1st 🥇 Snr A Women 20s 200m- 1st 🥇 Cancer Survivor 200m- 1st 🥇 Snr A Opens 10s 200m- 1st 🥈 Snr B Mixed 10s 500m- 2nd 🥈 Snr B Mixed 10s 200m- 2nd 🥈 Premier Women 10s 500m- 2nd 🥉 Snr A Mixed 20s 200m- 3rd 🥉 Women’s 2km- 3rd 🥉 Premier Women 10s 200m- 3rd
Well done to all of our Brave Hearts who have shown great dedication to their training and fitness program over the season. It has certainly paid off!
We would love to congratulate our Cancer Survivors and supporters on a super effort in taking home the gold in the Survivors and Supporters event. Thankyou so much to our friends from Warriors DBC and Dragon Masters DBC for joining us, and helping us get our team on the water.
We would also like to congratulate all of the Juniors who raced not only with their clubs but also together as Rapids in their U18s State Team crews, in readiness for the upcoming Nationals campaign. They did an amazing job!
Thankyou also to our wonderful volunteers for boat loading, time keeping, safety boat, setting up the course, helping on the starting pontoon, officiating and taking photos. Without you guys events like this wouldn’t be so successful…
We now look forward to Nationals in Penrith in 5 weeks time. Go Brave Hearts!!!
Brave Hearts take on Docklands
Lunar New Year Regatta was held in fantastic weather at Docklands on
Sunday. As always there was plenty of colour and vibe surrounding the
whole event. Mel and Brenda joined Dragonflys in the Cancer Survivors
races and our juniors smashed it out with the Rapids in their brand new
race tops…they looked fantastic! Our men also joined the guys from Mt
Beauty and Yarrawonga to race as a Regional Open Team taking third
place. And our Snr Womens 10s crew took out the gold!!!! Well done on a great day everyone!
200m Races Results are as follows:
Snr Womens 10’s 1st Prem Women’s 10’s 2nd Snr Women’s 20’s 2nd Open 10’s Regional Team 3rd Senior A Mixed 20’s 4th Premier Open 10’s 4th Premier Mixed 10’s 5th Senior A Mixed 10’s 8th
Photo Credits: Tony Purtell
Carrum Regatta
Another successful regatta yesterday at Carrum for Brave Hearts! Lots
of racing and fantastic team spirit with seven 500m events entered as
well as a Rapids 200m event.
Results were: 🥇Regional Snr A Open 500m 🥇Rapids Green Team 200m 🥈Rapids Blue Team 200m 🥈Premier Women’s 10s 500m 🥈Snr A Mixed 10s 500m 🥈Snr A Women’s 20s 500m 🥈Snr A Women’s 10s 500m 4th Premier Mixed 10s 500m (junior team) 4th Premier Mixed 20s 500m
Our Brave Hearts men had a great time racing with the men from Mt Beauty DBC, Warriors DBC and Yarrawonga DBC, forming a regional open crew and taking out the gold! Well done guys 👏👏
We were also so very proud of our 10 Brave Hearts juniors who raced together as a team for the first time this season in the Premier Mixed 10s. They came equal fourth against very tough competition and did an exceptional job. Also a big congratulations to our newest juniors Jaxson, Victor and Levi on their first regatta. As well as racing with our senior crews our juniors also raced with the Melbourne Rapids. They had two 200m heats against each other; Rapids BLUE and Rapids GREEN. GREEN took out the win. Well done Rapids, you guys rock! The Rapids were also presented with 10 new paddles generously donated by Motion Master. Thankyou Motion Master 👏
The Brave Hearts spirit shone through once again as we watched Mel and Brenda join the Peninsula Dragonflies and Gippsland Waratahs in the Cancer Survivors races. Great work ladies❤️
Our drummers were also busy; Maxi, Ella, Eve and Brenda drummed for YRD, Warriors and Pink Lotus. They were hopping in and out of boats all day 😀👏👏
Thankyou to our volunteers; Gavin, Murray and Garry who loaded boats
all day. Well done guys. Also thanks to Shahne who was on volunteering
standby…
Thanks again to Tony for taking our photos.
Great team work Brave Hearts! Congratulations to all of you on a fantastic day!
💜💖💙💜💖💙
Nagambie Regatta
A big day of 500m racing at Nagambie last weekend! Here is a
selection of Tony Purtell’s amazing photos, capturing the action
beautifully, especially of our new level 2 sweeps who all did a
fantastic job!
We finished the day with: Gold in the Open 10’s – teaming up with the boys from Mt Beauty DBC. Silver in the Women’s Senior A 20s, Bronze in the Senior A Mixed 10s, Bronze in the Premier Women’s 10s, Gold for Pam and Brenda in the Cancer Survivors Race with the Peninsula Dragonflies.
Thanks everyone for a great day!
Footscray Regatta
Loading the boat for our Mixed 20s race
There is nothing better than hanging out with this team of amazing
people, all there for the same reason – people who love to paddle! Our
first regatta for the 2019/2020 season was a day of beautiful sunshine,
fun, competition and great team work!
Our mixed 10s and mixed 20s crew made the finals – silver in both! The 20s open was aggregate over 2 races, and we came 2nd in both, another sliver! And in the women’s 10s we came 3rd in the finals.
3 Silver 1 Bronze
…and a gold for Mumma Mel who raced with the @Peninsula Dragonflys Dragon Boat Club in the Cancer Survivors race.
Well done Brave Hearts!
COME & TRY!
Now is a great time to come and give dragon boating a go! A great sport
for the whole family…We train every Monday and Wednesday nights @
5:45pm and every Saturday morning at 8:30am. Junior training also starts
on Saturday 28th September. Age 10+. Join us for super fun sport – give
it a go!
Thanks for the great photos Tony!
Annual Awards Dinner
We had a fabulous evening at the Hovell Tree Inn last night for our combined Brave Hearts on the Murray Inc, Silver Heart Award and the Brave Hearts Dragon Boat Club’s Award Presentation Night! A huge Congratulations to the following members on their fantastic achievements for the 2018/2019 Season:
Volunteer of the Year – Tony and Michell Purtell
Rookie of the Year – Riley Purtell
Rising Star Award – Ian Moreland
Premier Paddler of the Year – Narelle Jones
Senior Paddler of the Year – Linda Knight
Fitness Coach’s Award – Carolyn O’Connell
Club Captain’s Award – Maxine Reid
Coordinator’s Award of Excellence- Julie Bowater
Club Member of the year (sponsored by JPX2) – Julie Walker
Silver Heart Award – Julie Bowater
Suzy Watson opening the night
Our Wonderful volunteers
Volunteer of the year- Michelle and Tony Purtell
Junior High Achievers
Silver Heart Winner- Julie Bowater
Thankyou to the following volunteers who were acknowledged with a certificate of appreciation for their tireless efforts throughout the year: Meta Hansen, Leonie Brown, Terry Deans, Kevin and Chris Gabriel, Claire Boyd, Sue Vandeven, Michelle and Tony Purtell and Frank Laverty.
Nine Juniors who competed in the U18s Victorian State Team team at the Aus Champs were each presented with a High Achievers Trophy: Charlotte, Ella V, Matt, Ella J, Riley, Georgia, Tahlia, Jim and Eve.
Charlotte and Ella also presented Jeremy with a small gift of their appreciation for all of the hard work and support he showed the juniors during the season.
BHMINC also acknowledged Riley and Georgia Purtell for their help all year with Leisure Cruise every Sunday.
Rowan Drummond received the “Iron Man” award for the first member of BH’s to ever break a paddle at training during a start phase.
And a big thankyou to Luigi for entertaining us all with his insights into dragon boating for a first time paddler.
In closing the evening’s formalities Diane thanked our Head Coach Mike on behalf of the BH members for his continued leadership, encouragement and support.
Thank you to the Hovell Tree Inn for their fantastic hospitality, service and kind donation of two lucky seat prizes of two vouchers valued at $150 each.
Also a very big thank you to JPX2, for generously sponsoring the Club Member of the Year trophy.
