FIFTEEN paddlers from Narooma Blue Water Dragons travelled to Jindabyne for the 10th Flowing Festival on February 14 and 15. The paddlers formed part of the Southern Waratahs teams which also included men and women from Merimbula, Moruya and Nowra.
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On a cool and wet Saturday Sue Seath and Helen Hayes participated in regional training with Sally Farrell undergoing assessment for her Level 2 sweep accreditation.
A 2km time trial was run late on Saturday with seven Narooma paddlers involved in mixed and women’s teams. Jane Mansergh and Sue Seath went around twice which was an impressive feat. In the mixed event the Southern Waratahs were placed fourth and fifth out of 11 teams, both teams posting times of 10min 50secs. The women’s team placed third out of six with 11:30:19. Two of the Canberra teams, Komodo and Ice Dragons dominated these events and were to prove too strong for the rest of the competition over the weekend.
The weather on Sunday proved much kinder to the organisers with warm and dry conditions. The conditions on Lake Jindabyne were ideal for the 200 metre races to be contested by clubs from Albury Wodonga, Wagga Wagga, Canberra, Illawarra, Central West, hosts Snow Dragons and Narooma’s own composite team.
The Narooma paddlers were each assigned two teams for the day and competed in Masters Mixed, Sports Mixed, Masters Women’s and Sports Men’s 10s events. Narooma’s masters’ teams performed well with the mixed team placing fourth in the final behind Canberra teams in a time of 59.11s. The Sports 10 men’s team paddled well in the final with a time of 53.72.
The two Southern Waratahs women’s masters’ team were both involved in the final. Team 1 was mainly Sapphire Water and Nature Coast paddlers with Team 2 comprising the 13 Narooma ladies plus seven from the Zen club in Merimbula and two from Nowra. Competition was fierce in the heats with Team 2 recording the fastest times. Our newly qualified sweep Sally and team captain Julie Melville were understandably nervous going into the final as local bragging rights were up for grabs. The final was closely contested with Team 2 winning in a time of 57.62, Team 1 second ahead of teams from Wagga, Canberra and Illawarra. Great memories and gold medals to bring home!
Thanks to our supporters who came along for the trip, Peter Seath for video/photography, club coach Leck Swadling who sent messages of support, Lee Wellham from Moruya who sorted the teams and the Flowing Festival organisers. Narooma Blue Water Dragons will be back next year hopefully with our own full boat. If you would like to be part of this community club email narooma.bwd@gmail.com or phone 0477 610 953.