The Cause
Dragons Abreast Australia is an organisation that promotes breast cancer awareness and education, primarily, but not exclusively, through the sport of dragon boat racing. October 19th saw the running of the Dragons Abreast Inaugural Corporate Dragonboat Challenge held in Darling Harbour Sydney.
The Challenge
The race is 240m - from under the Pyrmont Bridge towards Tumbalong Park. All teams will race 2 heats, Industry Challenge and/or final - that’s 3 races for your team.
The Reason
Dragons Abreast Australia is a national organisation comprised of breast cancer survivors of various ages from a great variety of backgrounds, athletic abilities and interests. We are founded on the principles of participation and inclusiveness. Competitive outcome is secondary – we are winners simply by being here and able to paddle.
Dragons Abreast members provide a "face" for the breast cancer statistics whilst spreading the message of breast cancer awareness through participation in the wonderful and strenuous sport of dragon boat racing.
The Race and the Results – “A word from the team”
We are pleased to announce that Diaverum’s Lindfield Dialysis Clinic come a very commendable 6th on the day –quite a feat considering that only 1 person had ever taken part in a Dragonboat race before, and the rest of the team had only 2 training sessions!
The team was made up of Diaverum staff and family and three amazing Lindfield dialysis patients –a great display of what dialysis patients can achieve. On the completion of our first race, a loud cheer erupted as our boat passed the finish line as we were the only team to have dialysis patients on board. Our second race time improved 10 seconds from our first, and our third and final race was as good as the second.
It was an awesome day and we are all looking forward to next years challenge being bigger and better –with a lot of practise in between!!
