Competitors from all over the state battled for competition points in the dragon boat racing season.  

This is the second year DBNSW have run this event in Nowra and there was again plenty of enthusiasm shown from visiting clubs.

Local club, the Nowra Waterdragons, has been busy recruiting paddlers to replace those who retired after the 2012 World Club Crew Championships in Hong Kong.  

On Saturday the Waterdragons fielded new teams made up of old and new paddlers in order to give the “newbies” a taste of regatta racing.

The Nowra Waterdragons entered teams in the grand masters mixed, masters mixed and masters women.

The masters mixed team came second in their first heat but missed out on the final after placing fifth in the second heat.

The masters women made it all the way to the final after placing third and fourth in the heats.

The women went on to place fourth in the hard-fought final.

But the Waterdragons blew their competition out of the water with their grand masters mixed team, which placed first in their two heats to progress straight to the final.

In the final the Waterdgragons cruised to victory, two seconds ahead of their closest competitors, the Bei Loon team.

Some Nowra members also teamed up with others from the Pendragons to race in the open masters event.

It was a photo finish in the final, with the mixed Nowra/Pen team winning by just 0.1 of a second. 

Nowra Waterdragons team selector Judy Panucci said the club was extremely happy with the results.  

“We left a few of our reliable seasoned paddlers out and made up our teams with our newer guys and they all went very well,” she said.

The Nowra Waterdragons are now also a level one accredited Good Sports Club, an incentive of the NSW government to encourage fair and drug free sport for all sportsmen and women.  

In order to receive accreditation, a club must achieve points for clean, open and fair operation and commit to discouraging gambling, alcohol and drugs within their sport.