Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta 2021
I woke up to another glorious day with perfect conditions for the dragon boats. It is my first season paddling with the busting with life team and so it was my first time taking part in the anniversary day regatta. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the viaduct waterfront after the early start to the day.
When I arrived there was a mass of shade tents but busting with life was easy to spot in our bright pink shirts. There were teams from all over the North Island, including breast cancer survivor teams from Tauranga and Taranaki. The competition was going to be fierce, but friendly. We had entered teams in both the 20 and 10 person races. The races were short, 200 metre sprints, and I was told by the other ladies that we paddled up to the far end to start, then raced back towards the finish line. We had to stop the boat when told – if we didn’t there was a large brick wall at the end! The boats had been fitted out with the dragon head and tail and a drum up front. I hadn’t seen them like that before and it added to the festival atmosphere.
The dragon boats were not the only boats in the harbour which made the day more interesting. Several times the races had to wait while another boat went in or out of the harbour. There were some huge boats moored, but unfortunately we were too busy focussed on paddling to get a close look.
The first races were the 20 person boats and the whole team took part. We came a respectable second in the heat against other mixed and mens teams. We made the plate final but unfortunately did not fare as well in that. We all realised that we could do better and took valuable learnings away with us. The 10 person competition followed and the teams were changed around for that so that we all had a least one race. We made the breast cancer survivor final. As a newbie I was not in the final and instead cheered the team on from the side-lines. It was an exciting race and the team paddled well, but the other teams did better. Plenty for us to think about and we will be training hard for the Regionals in just over a months’ time. Well done to the ladies in the other teams though for paddling such a good race.
My experience of the anniversary day regatta was awesome and I really enjoyed the day. The ladies in the busting with life team are amazing and I still have so much to learn to improve my paddling. While we are a breast cancer survivor team and we have a lot in common because of that, the focus of the team is on the dragon boating, not on the past. It’s a really positive and supportive environment. Competitive too and now the focus will be on preparing for Regionals.
3-2-1 BUSTING