Four members of the Great Lakes Pearl Dragons have been selected to represent NSW at the Australian National Championships at Lake Kawana, Bokarina in Queensland March 3 to 8.
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Wendy Orman will compete in the female senior B team, Claire Pontin for the female senior C, while Laurie Haydon and Peter Reed for the men senior C.
It was the first time Claire, Peter and Laurie tried out for selection.
Pearl Dragons president, Denise Marr said she was proud that the club boasted four State representatives.
“It really says something about our club,” she said.
It was a long road to qualify for the squads which started with a two minute ERG test to see how many metres they could make on a rowing machine.
This was followed by 380 metre time trial sprints that were then analysed by Dragon Boats NSW.
The top 20 performers in both male and female divisions were then called back for water trials before the final teams were chosen.
Denise added that it was a great achievement for the club to have two male representatives as the club has a shortage of male members.
Wendy doubles as a coach for the Dragons.
“She brings so much to the club from a coaching perspective,” Denise said.
Denise said the standard of competition that was being set at the club is encouraging members to try out for State or Nationals teams.
The Pearl Dragons will also feature at the championships through a senior A women’s side.
They will race in the 200 metres, 500 metres and two kilometre events.
Anyone interested in joining the club is urged to contact the Great Lakes Pearl Dragons Facebook page.