Australian Dragon Boat Federation

 

 

30 April 2012

 

MESSAGE FROM AUSDBF PRESIDENT

 

 

The 2013 Australian Dragon Boat Championships (1-5 April at Docklands, Melbourne) was one of the most successful regattas conducted by AusDBF.

 

For the first time, over 2,500 competitors from all states and territories competed across five days, in a record 300 races in front of thousands of spectators. A record 75 clubs and the largest ever junior contingent showcased our sport to the discerning Melbourne public, and a huge amount of media attention has launched our sport and organisation into the next stage of our on and off water development.

 

The 2012 Championships will always be remembered for the tragic loss of paddling stalwart and elder statesman, Peter Bristow from South Australia and the Power Blades club. Paddlers will  never forget the unity and respect shown by the national paddling community during the on-water memorial for Peter.

 

The State Championship trophy will be named after Peter in honour of his contribution to representative paddling at state and national levels, in addition to marking our community's loss of a great coach and fierce competitor.

 

The Peter Bristow Trophy will be awarded to the Australian State Champion from 2013, and now sits alongside the Trevor Huggard Club Champion Trophy (named in honour of AusDBF's first and longest serving President, inaugural Life Member, and still serving Victorian President) as one of our sport's most sought after prizes.

 

This year the Trevor Huggard Trophy was won by the Brisbane River Dragons (Queensland) who, along with the Ice Dragons (ACT), are one of only two clubs to have held the cup.

 

The Jon Taylor Award, named after AusDBF's second president and longest serving board member to recognise the remarkable contributions of volunteers, was shared by Mal Wills of NSW and Blair Gamble of Queensland. The joint award was another first for our sport.

 

The Australian Auroras leadership group was announced, with Head Coach Serghei Cucsa (Victoria) joined by Assistant Coach Brendan Byrne (ACT). Claire Hosegood (NSW) was announced as Captain for the 2012 Asian Championship campaign, and her Vice Captains will be Georgina Wakim (Vic) and Bryan Buttery (SA). The flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony will be Karen Hall (NSW) who now boasts two World Championship gold medals to her name.

 

While the future shape of our Championships will need some further work to accommodate our growth, there is no doubt the strongest possible foundations have been laid for Australian Dragon Boat racing. Since 2008 the AusChamps has grown from 720 paddlers, to nearly 2600 competitors in 2012. Our success is driven by our individual and collective love of the sport, but has become tangible via the dedication of club coaches, committees, captains and other team leaders. Without their passion, and the willingness of every paddler to make our flagship event a special week in the national sporting calendar, we simply would not be in this position. Thank you.

 

On behalf of the paddling community I would also like to thank the state hosts of the AusChamps, Dragon Boat Victoria, and their Organising Committee, chaired by David Abel. The thousands of hours it takes to plan and run an event of this scale has been well worth it, and made the 2013 Championships almost too much to wait for. The small army of volunteers and officials were at the Docklands Harbour race site before anyone else, and we're the last to leave. Their dedication off water made our time in the boat run like clockwork. Our hats off to you as well.

 

For his sins, David has now been appointed to the AusDBF board to fill a casual vacancy, and joins Tony D'Andreti from NSW, who was also appointed to the board during the Australian Championships,  as our newest national board members.

 

Good luck to the crews racing in Hong Kong in July at the World Club Championships, and the best of wishes to the Auroras who will endure a long winter training to proudly wear the green and gold in South Korea in September.

 

See you all next season.

 

Kel Watt

AusDBF President