The Australian Masters Games is one of Australia’s largest regular multi-sport festivals with an extensive sport program offering over 50 different sports. This year the XIX event was hosted by the city of Adelaide.

Amongst the many sports was Dragon Boat Racing.

Four local athletes from the Clarence Coast Club in Yamba competed in the two days of paddling.

Kim Sanders and Will Boeyen competed with the Goolwa River Dragons whilst Chez Coleman and Mel Scrace paddled with a combined Far North Coast crew with paddlers from Ballina, Grafton, Yamba, Coffs Harbour and Camden Haven.

Over two days of racing there were one hundred and thirty-eight races which included heats for Senior A 40-60 years; Senior B 50-60 years; and Senior C over 60 years. Women only crews of 10 and 20 plus mixed and open crews of men and women competed over a 200m sprint distance.

Although the weather was wet and windy it did not dampen the spirit of the crews. Mel was part of the bronze medal winning crew in the Women’s B Senior 10s and Will brought home gold, paddling in the senior B mixed 10s crew for Goolwa River Dragons.

If you would like to join us on the water, go to our website or Facebook page ‘Clarence Coast Dragon Boat Club’, or come down to Moby Dick boat ramp on Wednesday or Saturday morning at 6.30am.

We would love to see you there.

Lesley Sutton