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
![](https://villagevoice.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/05-Susan-A-Nat-Kerry-Sue-J-954x1024.jpg)
![](https://villagevoice.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/04-Heading-to-start-line-1024x492.jpg)
![](https://villagevoice.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/03-Deb-presenting-Kerry-1024x813.jpg)
![](https://villagevoice.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/02-Bathurst-Men-Laurence-Mark-Andrew-1024x576.jpg)
Words & Photos: Laurence Outim