Paddlers bring home gold
30 Aug 2011
By Bethany Williams
Five Docklands dragon boaters won gold at last month’s International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Championships in the USA.
Karen Morris was among the five who paddled to victory in the Masters (40 plus) women’s 2000-metre turns race, winning Australia’s only gold medal.
“It was such an incredible feeling knowing that all the training and hard work had paid off and that we had really pulled together and gelled as a team,” she said.
Some 16 members of the Melbourne Flames and two members of Dragon Masters competed alongside 160 others on the Australian dragon boat team.
Both the Melbourne Flames and Dragon Masters train at Shed 2 in Victoria Harbour.
The Australian team competed in 35 events at the championships and won 15 medals, including one gold, nine silver and five bronze.
The coach of the Australian dragon boat team, Serghei Cusca, is also the coach of the Melbourne Flames.
Serghei said that he was extremely proud of the Australian team’s performance at the world championships. “Each and every paddler pulled together and performed as a united team,” he said.
The Australian dragon boat team came third overall at the IDBF World Championships.
To get involved in dragon boating in Docklands see http://www.melbourneflames.com.au or http://www.dragonmasters.com.au
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