ADF
teams aim high in the sport of dragons
By
Andrew Stackpool
AIR
Force rowers were represented in the recent Australian National
Dragon Boat Championships, which were held in Canberra over the
weekend of April 7-9.
They competed as part of the mixed crew with rowers from the other
Services and Defence civilians aboard the Navy Materiel (NAVMAT)
Dragon Boat Racing Club’s entry.
Teams from around Australia converged to participate in the three
days of racing. Club spokesman Alf Pawlicki said the ultimate
reward for the winners is to be selected to represent Australia
at the World Dragon Boat Championships in Berlin. In 2006, the
best club teams will be selected to represent Australia at the
World Crew Club Championships in Canada and in 2007, Sydney will
host the World Championships.
Mr Pawlicki said the three days of racing in Canberra was broken
into State representative teams racing over 500m on the first
day and then the club teams contesting 500m and 250m race distances
over the next two days.
“In the club races, Defence was represented by three teams
– two Navy teams from Sydney and Melbourne, and our Canberra-based
NAVMAT Dragon Boat Racing Club,” he said.
RAN Sydney raced in the open class while RAN Melbourne and NAVMAT
raced in the mixed class. RAN Sydney proved the best performer,
with two third-place finishes in the open 500m and 250m finals.
“We didn’t do well on the third day, as we had a few
tired and injured paddlers by then,” Mr Pawlicki said.
Members of the former NAVMAT Social Club formed the NAVMAT Dragon
Boat Racing Club to participate in a local regatta during the
1992-93 racing season.
NAVMAT first attended an Australian dragon boat championships
in Adelaide in 1997 and first raced internationally in 2002 in
Penang, Malaysia. The next goal of the club is to send a team
to the Australian Masters Games in Adelaide later this year.
Dragon Boat Racing: Where it all began
DRAGON
boat racing is a Chinese sport that has its origins about 2400
years ago. In the Zhou Dynasty, a man named Qu Yuan served the
Emperor. He fought corruption in the Royal Court and recommended
the Emperor not fight the emerging Qin State.
He made many enemies and was exiled. War broke out between the
Zhou and Qin States, and the Zhou Dynasty was defeated. Upon hearing
the news, Qu Yuan committed suicide, drowning in the Milou River.
The common people loved Qu Yuan and, seeing his death, many local
fishermen rushed out in long boats and beat drums to try to prevent
fish from eating his body.
The tradition lives on in the dragon boats, which are long and
narrow. They can range in length from 40ft boats with crews of
20 to 100ft monsters with crews of 80. As well as the paddlers,
they carry a drummer and a flag catcher who tries to grab the
flag sited at the end of the course.
