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0 With a strong southerly wind and in conditions described as ‘frothing’, the most famous and challenging race on Australia’s Dragonboat racing circuit, The Scotland Island Race, has been won by the Rhodes-based Dragon Sports Association (DSA) Yellow team which completed the tough 9.5km course in the highly commendable time of 46 minutes and 22 seconds.
Second place was grabbed by Northern Beaches Dragon Boat Club while Komodo from Canberra placed third.
Now in its 12th year, the Bei Loon Dragon Boat Club in Bayview was again proud to host the most challenging race in the Australian Dragonboat calendar.
At almost 9.5 kilometres, the Scotland Island race represents the longest dragonboat race on the calendar, massively longer than typical race distances of 200m, 500m and 2km.
Local wind conditions added another level of challenge to the extreme distance with paddlers treated to winds of up to 25km, which frothed up the Pittwater adding an extra level of excitement to the race.
This year, 22 clubs from multiple States were represented across 15 teams.
The race was run in three heats of 5 boats with the winner picked from the best times.
The day was rounded off with a well-received sausage sizzle, accompanied by some tasty home-baked delights.
Bei Loon would like to thank George Webster and his team of volunteers for organising an incident-free day.
Dragonboat racing is an intrinsically safe sport for those that enjoy some hard low-impact exercise, coupled with a good dose of camaraderie. Each boat holds up to 20 paddlers, plus a sweep.
The Bei Loon Dragon Boat Club welcomes anyone who would like to give it try.
Training sessions are published on www.beiloon.com.au where guests may register their interest to participate in our next Try-out session.
