Bathurst Pan Dragons had a fantastic regatta paddling with Orange Colour City as a combined team in the inaugural Parkes Masters at Lake Endeavour Parkes on 26th March 2023.
The weather was a pleasant 27 degrees for the 2km and 200m races. The 2km heats were up first, circumnavigating the 200m course almost 4 times.
Paddlers represented teams including from Canberra, Parkes, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Wagga, Narrabri, Forbes, Lithgow & Blue Mountains – a truly Western Region event. We achieved gold in the 2km with a time of 12min 23.53sec, later finishing with bronze in the mixed 20s 200m final in the afternoon with 1min 2.65sec.
There were races for men, women & mixed teams with either twenty or ten paddlers in each boat. Newly re-elected Phil Donato (Member for Orange) praised the dragon boating event for encouraging community members to have fun, keep fit & have social bonding with the great sport of dragon boat racing.
Bathurst trains at Chifley Dam, more info is at www.bathurstpandragons.org
Words & Photos: Laurence Outim
