Taranaki Dragons enjoy national events

The Taranaki Dragons have enjoyed their national competitions

Assistance provided by the Taranaki Electricity Trust enabled the Taranaki Dragons to attend the NZ National Dragon Boating Championships (7-8 April 2023) and the International Breast Cancer  Paddler’s Commission (IBCPC) Dragon Boat Festival (10 – 16 April 2023) held on Lake Karapiro.

"The Taranaki Dragons greatly appreciate the support of TET in giving us a grant to assist with the cost of accommodation at the NZ National Dragon Boat Championships and the International Breast Cancer Paddler’s Commission (IBCPC) Dragon Boat Festival," Valda McBeth said.

The IBCPC Festival is an international non-competitive participatory event for breast cancer paddler teams who engage in dragon boating as post breast cancer diagnosis rehabilitation. 2023 was the first time that the festival has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. "It was a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow breast cancer survivors from more than 70 teams from throughout the world, and many of us will probably not get another opportunity to participate in such an empowering event."

The Taranaki Dragons Team of 26 stayed in motels in Te Awamutu for the duration of the NZ National Dragon Boating Championship. It was an comfortable drive to Lake Karapiro each day.

The Taranaki Pinks team of 22 stayed in one of the Boarding Houses at St Peters School in Cambridge. As the Festival lasted a week, we appreciated having our own single bedrooms, full cooking facilities and a common room equipped with table tennis, pool and a football tables.