Three Ballarat youngsters will paddle for Australia in the World Dragon Boat Championships in China next year.
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Golden Dragons Ballarat Boat Club members Abby Spedding, Jules Mathews and Michelle Donaldson have earned seats in two of the Australian Auroras’ junior crews.
Spedding and Mathews will compete in the under-16 division and Donaldson at under-18 level.
Golden Dragons secretary Maxine Poulton said it was a great achievement by the three and an accolade for the efforts of the club.
The club was formed in 2012 and three years later in support of a Dragon Boat Victoria initiative a junior development program formed under the guidance of coach Michelle James.
The national selection of Spedding, Mathews and Donaldson underlines how much progress has been made at junior level on Lake Wendouree in Ballarat.
The teenagers were selected as a result of their efforts in this year’s national championships in Adelaide, where they claimed silver medals as part of Victorian crews.
This earned them an invitation for a two-day training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, where after various assessments they received the selectors’ nod.
Poulton said with the worlds in August, the Ballarat paddlers faced an extended racing and training schedule as part of their preparation.
This will include again representing Victoria at the national titles in Albury-Wodonga in April.
She said they would be required to maintain fitness levels – completing a logbook of their activity.
They also face the challenge of each raising about $10,000 to cover costs for the trip.
With each dragon boat featuring a crew of 22, the Ballarat club has a membership of close to 40 and uses Loreto College as a base for storing its boat and training.
Golden Dragons combine junior and senior paddlers when competing at regattas.
Dragon boat racing began in Australia in 1980, with the Australian Dragon Boat Federation formed in 1997.
The sport has it origins in China, where it is deeply imbedded in “dragon” culture.
Each boat is dressed with an ornately carved dragon’s head at the bow and a tail at the stern.
Boats are painted with scales, with paddles symbolically representing a dragon’s claws.
Australia has been competing in world championships, which take place biennially, since 1999.
The Australian Auroras also contest the Asian titles and world cups, the latest having been in China in October this year.
