Flames burn brightly at home

Local dragon boaters the Melbourne Flames took full effect of their home ground advantage at last month’s national championships, returning its best result ever.

The Flames won seven trophies over the six day tournament – a significant improvement on 2011 when it came away with a single victory.

Team captain Karen Morris said: “As I reflect now I could only have imagined what was possible for us on our home ground. I have to say that seven trophies, two of those gold were beyond that imagination ...”

“The results by our club at the 2012 nationals will go down as our best-ever performance,” she said.

Flames President Rene Gielen said: “The seven trophies we won as a club are the magnificent icing on a big cake we've been working so hard on all season! Again, we win them as a club, so everyone should be very proud of these great results!"

On day two the club won silver over 500 metres in the Masters Mixed 10s and bronze in the Premier Mixed 10s.  On day three the Masters Women 10s won silver over 500 metres and the club came in third in the Premier Mixed 20s two km race.

Day four was golden for the Flames with victories over 200 metres for both the Masters Mixed 10s and Premier Mixed 10s.  And on day five, the Masters Women 10s won silver over 200 metres.

Apart from the wins, the club also achieved other noteworthy results . The grand masters made the grand final, as did the premier 20 women, who missed out on a 2km medal by a mere 0.8 of a second!

Club coach Serghei Cucsa said the results were well deserved but believes there is plenty of improvement in the paddlers yet.

“We can do better and I’m looking forward to the year ahead as we continue to build our team's success and our club following this performance,” he said.

Twelve club members are also heading to Busan, South Korea in September this year to compete for Australia in the national “Auroras” squad.  Ten will go as paddlers, one as an official and the club’s coach is going as the head coach of the squad.  One of the paddlers, Georgina Wakim, has also been chosen as vice-captain of the national squad.