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Victory: Black Dragons secure the Premier Open 10's (200 metres) State title. |
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Welcome to the Black Dragons Dragon Boat Club official website.
Black Dragons is a fun, exciting and innovative club with great team spirit, strong friendships and camaraderie.
Established in 2003, the club was formed by a number of long term paddlers who used their experience to take dragon boating in a new direction. Black Dragons is one of the latest clubs to join and compete in South Australia’s professional dragon boat competition.
Since joining the competition, the club has grown from strength to strength, continuing to improve through training hard and clever race strategies.
The recent 2006 - 2007 season was Black Dragons most successful yet, taking out five State titles with closely fought races, and narrowly missing out on a further seven medals against fierce competition. Many races came down to the wire at the last race meeting of the season, making for an exciting and exhilarating battle to determine the States best and cap off an extremely memorable year.
Black Dragons will continue to build on its success, striving for and achieving more each season to gain the competitive edge.
The club works under the creed of ‘Play hard, Paddle harder’, with an emphasis on training hard but keeping it interesting and above all, enjoyable. Therefore, in addition to solid training and competitive racing, Black Dragons are also committed to building strong friendships and creating a great team spirit and club atmosphere through the many social and celebratory events held throughout the year. Some of these special moments are highlighted in the Social events and photos page.
With dragon boat racing being one of the fastest growing sports in the world, Black Dragons provides a fantastic opportunity to compete at the highest level against some of the best national and international teams and the opportunity for travel to world staged events.
So, to find out how to become part of the fun, excitement, and great team spirit, check out the Membership and training page, and join the club with a great future and colourful past, building on success and celebrating the year ahead.
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Black Dragons Around 60 club members, friends and sponsors gathered to enjoy a fantastic celebratory end-of-season dinner held at Caos Café. It was the perfect opportunity for members to catch-up and reflect on the success of the past season and present eight club awards. 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 ‘Black Dragon of the Year’ Award was presented to Noel Schmidt. Three new awards were also presented this year; the Female Encouragement Award was presented to Caitlin Gilliam, the Male Encouragement Award to Michael Graskovski, and the Volunteer Award to Maria Graskovski. Congratulations to all award recipients and nominees, to all Black Dragons who worked hard and competed throughout the season, and to the people who supported the club. There are many people, particularly the coaching staff and committee members, who deserve worthy recognition for their commitment to dragon boating, the club and its members. Their valuable contribution, both in and out of the boat, has helped build this proud club to what it is today, and together, with more hard work and determination, Black Dragons will endeavour to exceed on the success of the past season. |
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Black Dragons’ members recently returned home to South Australia victorious from races in Nanning City’s major International Dragon Boat Competition. During June, fiercely fought competitions were held all throughout China and Hong Kong. The Black Dragons team were invited to compete in Nanning City, one of the historical founders of dragon boating for over 2000 years, and in which, the team set about cementing their own place in China’s dragon boat history. Entering several race categories over 800 and 500 metres, the Premier Mixed 20’s races proved to be Black Dragons’ specialty. The team first took out the Silver medal over 800 metres in a hard fought and extremely close race. After being pipped at the post, the taste for victory grew stronger, and as the crew regrouped on land for the 500 metre race on day two, there was a sense of sheer determination and a winning Aussie spirit that shone through. The atmosphere was buzzing, and as the 20’s crew headed back to the start line to attempt to go one better, the crew couldn’t help but take in the tens of thousands of people that lined the banks of the lake cheering colourfully. With the adrenalin pumping, the starter’s gun fired and the race quickly got underway. Black Dragons got an explosive start and hit rhythm early. The 500 metre race was over before they knew it, but it would come down to a photo finish with a local Nanning team. After an anxious wait, it was announced that Black Dragons of Australia had won by 0.72 of a second! There was an immediate cheer of jubilation, and celebrations continued well into the night at the official closing ceremony party. This is the first time a South Australian dragon boat team has won gold in China, while also being the first time an international team has taken the most prestigious title from the locals. Throughout the competition, Black Dragons’ were the centre of media attention with every television station, radio station and newspaper interviewing many of the 40 members of Black Dragons’ traveling party (33 competitors, and seven support crew). Every day, photos were published in local newspapers, as well as footage featuring on international television. Black Dragons make their mark in Hong Kong- After a triumphant China trip, Black Dragons went on to Hong Kong to compete in their International Dragon Boat competition as part of the 10th Anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. Racing on Hong Kong Harbour, Victoria Bay, over a distance of 300 metres, and in a much larger field of international teams, Black Dragons came 9th and 11th in a field of 70 international teams, in the Mixed 20’s and Open 20’s respectively. Town Hall Civic Reception - Thank you -
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