MRDBC December 2015 News

Manning River Dragons have had an exciting few months with 2 Junior Paddlers Sean Page and Sam Thomson Paddling at the World Championships in Canada bringing home 7 Gold and 1 silver medal.
In October 19 of our paddlers joined NSW North Coast Motley Crew and competed at The Australian Masters Games Adelaide coming home with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Was a great time had by all paddlers.
Our Neighbours Pearl Dragons Forster hosted a very successful regatta in November which we competed in Womens and Mixed teams. Manning River Dragons were in great form and hungry to finally win a silver trophy in the Womens final and just missing out on the mixed final.Last weekend Mary Weaver and Tanya White undertook coaching sessions in Taree and they were fantastic! Mary and Tanya were the Australian coaches that worked with Sean and Sam to achieve their success in Canada.  They worked with 16 of our club paddlers on Saturday afternoon and 24 juniors/U24/premiers from across NSW for 6 hours on Sunday.  The young paddlers travelled from Grafton, Coffs and Armidale to attend the mini-camp; and were accompanied by some of the Sydney paddlers who were also in the Auroras team. 
Anyone who attended on Sunday saw the enthusiasm of our young paddlers – they love the sport and the friendships they have made.  Also, seeing Mary and Tanya work with the kids was fantastic, they have a great bond with the kids.  
Mary and Tanya combined land work with paddling sessions.  The techniques and the exercises were great.  We all came away with a better understanding of how we can improve our strokes and “move the boat”.  By the end of the weekend we were exhausted.  Most really felt it in their thighs and struggled to walk the next day.  
It was a great success and we would love to follow up with another session next year.
Two of our Juniors Sean Page & Alister Adamson have been selected in the State Team.



Maureen Pratten
Publicity Officer