Racing as a GB Premier Dragon Boat Paddler 2013

I flew out from Heathrow, UK to Budapest, Hungary on the 21st July 2013 with 3 days of training on the River Tiza, Szeged and the Olympic Regatta Course, Sezed before the racing started.

These three days were invaluable for getting using to the race boats, venue, facilities and generally getting our bearings of our surroundings. This did however leave the team feeling a little achy before racing, but it removed our nerves from racing on unfamiliar ground with such high pressure.

That day (well week) finally came on 22-28th July and we got to race at the World International Dragon Boat Championships held in Szeged, Hungary.

The Men's team won a Silver medal in 2k which was their first race!  The women's team were so close but just missed second and third position by fractions of a second and went home empty handed.

GB Premier Dragon Boat Team 2013

It's been the best part of a year since my last post and I'm struggling to find the words to describe the amazing experience, emotions and memories...but I'll do my best....

On 16th March 2013 I competed at a Time Trial for a position on the GB Premier Dragon Boat Team (Women's & Mixed).  My time was third fastest on the left (out of the females) with a respectable time of 3.10s for my 500m and 6.35s for my 1km.  The conditions were overcast with a tail wind but changeable throughout the day.

Following the TT the team met for a weekend on training each month at either Silverwing Lake in Wraysbury or Liverpool Watersports Centre, Queens Docks up until July.  The training sessions focused on technique, team building and determined who would be helming, drumming and paddling in the Mixed, Open and Womens Crews.  The Mixed Crew was made up of 8 female paddlers, 12 male paddlers, a male helm and male drummer.  The Open crew had 10 male paddlers, helm and drummer and Women's unsurprisingly had 10 female paddlers, helm and drummer both with 2 reserves.  Due to my TT I made it onto both the Open and Women's crew, although I was used a reserve for some of the Open races.

The team training set the standard of technique that had to be developed with individual training.  This training primarily focused on paddling and second to that was gym work and diet.  I trained with my local dragon boat team Bristol Empire Dragons (BED) twice a week (Sunday's & Thursday's) with additional racing once a month across the country at the National Dragon Boat League.  I trained in an O1 twice a week, once with BED (Sunday's) and once with Bath Canoe Club (Monday's).  The O1 (kayak with an outrigger) paddling was supplemented with racing at the Winter Sprint League held at Silverwing Lake, Wraysbury on Saturday's.  My gym and outside training focused on strength though the use of weights, core stability from yoga and cardio through running, cycling, bootcamp and other fitness classes.  I changed my life to be as time efficient as possible and learnt that I could use my commute to work and gym as additional training by cycling or running.

My motivation for training throughout the cold winter and hot summer was the fact that I would be representing my country at an internal sport event; something I had never expected to even have the option to do even a year ago!

We trained in the UK up until the week we flew to Hungary...