This is the first time Black Dragons Dragon Boat Club has travelled to Sabah, and a trip well worth it. Black Dragons came away with two medals: a Gold and a bronze with races over 200 and 800 metre distances.

The team was made-up of 21 paddlers and four support crew.

More than 70 people enjoyed a fantastic and celebratory end-of-season dinner.

It was the perfect opportunity for members to catch-up and reflect on the success of the past season and present the eight club awards. The Best Female and Male Paddler Awards were presented to Virginia Callahan and Ray Curran respectively. The Most Improved Female went to Allison Burgess, the Most Improved Male to Larry Watson and the Female and Male Encouragement Awards went to Meg Williams and Tyler Hillier. The Volunteer of the Year award was well-earned by Mel Hallett and the prestigious ‘Black Dragon of the Year’ award was presented to a richly-deserving Ann Richardson.

Congratulations to all award recipients and nominees, to all Black Dragons who competed throughout the season, and to the people who supported the club.

The championships, hosted in Adelaide South Australia, was the biggest AusDBF national competitions ever held, with 1245 paddlers in the State vs State competition and 1973 competing in the club championships. This made up 47 clubs from every Australian state and territory, as well as a club from New Zealand.

Full results can be found on the Achievements page.

Black Dragons finished off the season extremely well after a strong and successful year of State competitions and capitalizing on the hard work and effort of the season.

Equaling its biggest haul of gold medals, the club took out five State championships including its first ever gold medal in a women’s category.

Full results can be found on the Achievements page.

This is the second attendance at a national competition for Black Dragons.

The club achieved excellent results over the several days of competition with only just enough paddlers to compete in some events. The club was very competitive in every category and everyone paddled consistently and most of all, had fun.

Black Dragons has once again had a very busy and pleasing year. The club achieved excellent results in all competitions, taking out four State titles and narrowly missing out on gold in all other categories in closely fought races.

Full results can be found on the Achievements page.

More than 60 people enjoyed a fantastic end-of-season dinner.

Eight club awards were presented. The Best Female and Male Paddler Awards were presented to Catherine Pounsett and Chris Payne respectively. The Most Improved Female went to Virginia Callahan, the Most Improved Male to Ray Curran and the Female and Male Encouragement Awards went to Caitlin Gilliam and Michael Graskovski. The Volunteer of the Year award was well-earned by Maria Graskovski and the prestigious ‘Black Dragon of the Year’ award was presented to Noel Schmidt.

This season was quite successful for Black Dragons, taking out the State titles in the Premier Open 20’s (200 metres), Premier Mixed 10's (200 metres) and the Masters Open 20's (500 metres) categories. It is also the first year the race format was changed to the new regatta style competition, racing over two consecutive days for the State titles.

Full results can be found on the Achievements page.

Around 60 people enjoyed a fantastic and celebratory end-of-season dinner. Five club awards were presented: The Best Female and Male Paddler Awards were presented to Catherine Pounsett and Corey Constable respectively. The Most Improved Female went to Ashley Allchurch, the Most Improved Male to Lee Clarke and the ‘Black Dragon of the Year’ award was presented to John Harris.

With a traveling party of 40 members (33 competitors and seven support crew), Black Dragons spent 16 days, from 13 to 28 June touring Hong Kong and China, taking in Guilin, Yangshuo, Guangzhuo and Nanning. This included race days in Nanning and Hong Kong, which was followed by a welcome home Civic Reception held at the Adelaide Town Hall.

Nanning, China, 19 and 20 June 2007

Adelaide Town Hall Civic Reception, 12 July 2007

Hosted by The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Michael Harbison, the welcome home Civic Reception was attended by over 50 Black Dragons members, including supporters.

Another perfect weekend at James Well, club members and families partied and enjoyed the opportunity for rest and relaxation with this magic weekend getaway.

A big thank you to Port Canal Quality Meats and Port Canal Greengrocer for providing fresh and quality produce, and to Budget meats at Thebarton for supplying the succulent yiros meat.

Five Black Dragons members, Noel and Cindy Schmidt, Peter Alchin, John Harris and Chris Payne, and six other DBSA people, joined the Arafura Dragons Paddlers Club from Darwin to compete in the World Dragon Boat Club Crew Titles in Toronto in August 2006.

Competing in the Grand Dragons Open Race, Black Dragons members, Chris Payne and John Harris won a bronze medal in the Open 200 metre final. Just missing out on a medal in the Senior Open, Women and Mixed Classes were Noel and Cindy Schmidt and Pete Alchin.

Overall it was a very successful trip for the Arafura Club, competing in 21 races with three grand finals (1 medal), a minor final, three semi finals and six repecharge finals, placing first to third in 11 of their 21 races.

Black Dragons competed exceptionally well over the grueling three day, 100 kilometre Murray River course, giving the record time for Dragon Boating, a good nudge.

This is the first time Black Dragons Dragon Boat Club have entered the marathon with only few Dragon Boat teams previously tackling the distance, particularly with only 15 paddlers and a sweep, with all but four paddlers new to the marathon experience.

Each day provided early morning starts on a cold and misty river, but the team soon warmed up and hit the rhythm of long distance paddling.

The river wound it’s way from township to township, with the first day of paddling being the longest stretch of 37 kilometres from Loxton to Moorook. Day two saw the club paddle from Devlins Pound to Waikerie for 26 kilometres, while the third and final day was 30 kilometres from Hogwash Bend to Morgan.

With each day being a race against the clock, times were compared against the record, and after three days of paddling, Black Dragons finished just 10 minutes 14 seconds, or what is the equivalent of 1.89 kilometres, outside of record time (for the full race statistics, see the Achievements page).

The marathon was a very rewarding and challenging experience and a solid team effort. Well done to all who competed and were involved in the experience.

Over 50 people attended and enjoyed a fantastic social occasion at the end-of-season dinner.

It was the perfect opportunity for members to catch-up and reflect on the past season, with five club awards presented. The Best Female and Male Awards were presented to Catherine Pounsett and Neville Day respectively. The Most Improved Female went to Janine Kucharzewski, the Most Improved Male to Peter Alchin and the ‘Black Dragon of the Year’ award was presented to Bobby Kawalok.

Congratulations to the award recipients, and all Black Dragons who competed throughout the season.

Having met through their mutual interest in Dragon boating, Brian Smith and Tina Friend were married at West Lakes, surrounded by family, friends, work colleagues and members of Black Dragons.

Club members paddled them from the wedding, across the lake, to the Chinese Palace Restaurant for the reception. This is believed to be the first such dragon boat wedding of its kind in the State.

Held on the Teluk Bahang Dam, Penang hosted 34 local and 16 international teams competing in the International Dragon Boat Festival. Some of the countries represented from throughout the world included Germany, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Australia.

Black Dragons Dragon Boat Club competed in six categories, successfully reaching the finals on five occasions with the club placing third in the Mixed 20’s (500 metres), receiving a bronze medal.

To help promote the Royal Adelaide Hospital Cancer Centre to the Malaysian people, 26 members affiliated with different South Australian clubs, formed a team to travel and compete in Penang as the Adelaide City Dragon Boat Racing Club.

54 teams competed in Penang’s milestone event, involving over 31 countries from throughout the world, including Japan, China, United States, Canada and Australia. Out of all of the teams, Adelaide City Dragon Boat Racing Club was ranked and finished a competitive eighth.