THEY paddle to the beat of their own drum and this year the Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast Pink Sea Serpent team will bring their tune to the Bic Sup Paddle in Pink.
The annual event turns Noosa Sound into a sea of pink as hundreds of paddlers take to the water, but this year there will be a special team joining the great event on Sunday 16 October.
The Pink Sea Serpents are a group of breast cancer survivors who decided to jump into a dragon boat to help improve their health and make new friends.
Sunshine Coast Dragons Abreast vice-president Del Mears has been a sea serpent since 2007 and said the fun, fitness and sisterhood of the dragon boat is what brings her back time and time again.
“It’s all about the comradery,” she said. “We are all survivors and we have all been through the journey. We enjoy the sisterhood of paddling together and we have so much fun doing it.”
Del said she thanks sports medicine physician Dr Don McKenzie for his leading studies on the benefits of upper-body exercise for breast cancer survivors in 1996, which eventually led to the establishment of the Dragons Abreast group.
Dr McKenzie ran a six-month trial to see if paddling helped women and men who had undergone treatment for breast cancer. At the end of the trial the women didn’t want to stop paddling and others wanted to join the team.
The findings of the study showed that paddlers experienced a marked improvement in both physical and psychological health.
Pink Sea Serpent team member Jenny said it was important to remember that while a man or woman was being treated for breast cancer, they are constantly “organised and managed” with medical appointments but then suddenly the treatment is finished and there can be a feeling of uncertainty.
“Many wonder what happens now? Will I be able to do the things I want to do? Will I be OK?” she said.
“This is where Dragons Abreast comes in. The ladies in the Dragons Abreast group have been there and done that and know how the new person is feeling.
“The coaches all know you can’t have a group of ladies sitting together in a boat in silence, but what they are doing is checking how all their friends are going, how they are feeling, what is happening to them, giving words of advice to someone who is struggling. That is, they are supporting each other.
“Even the ladies who are non- breast cancer sufferers, who are the group’s paddler- supporters, get in on the action and show empathy.”
Here is a quote from Don Mackenzie in “A Dragon’s Tale” – a book about the beginnings of Dragons Abreast in Australia:
The Pink Sea Serpents got their first boat in 2005 with thanks to the Caloundra Zonta group.
“None of us had paddled together – we looked a motley crew, all paddling in no special order. It took a while to learn to keep together and how to lean forward and fill our paddle so we moved in unison. But we did it,” Jenny said.
The team now compete in competitions are paddle weekly to keep up their fitness.
“It is really exhilarating when you race. It’s hard to explain the tremendous feeling of the team acting as one and flying through the water – you need to have a try to see what it is like,” Jenny said.
“In 2018 we hope to take a full team of 22 women to Florence to take part in the next World Pink Dragon Boat Regatta.”
