By SUDU President: Neil Herbert

Earlier this year, AusDBF announced that it would be seeking EOI’s from athletes wanting to be selected to be in the Auroras – the Australian National Dragon Boat Team – competing in the World Championships in Brandenberg, Germany, in July 2025.

It was the start of a grueling program of training and preparation for three SUDU members – Steve Davidson, Kerry Herbert, and Neil Herbert – that culminated in the Snr C Selection Camp in Canberra last weekend (26-27 Oct 2024).

Hundreds of EOI’s were submitted by athletes from all around Australia, together with videos and other evidence to show that specific fitness and endurance benchmarks had been met. From those, 78 athletes (40 women and 38 men) were invited to attend the Selection Camp.

A cold and clear Canberra Saturday morning greeted us when we arrived at 7:00am for the morning briefing. The day consisted of benchmark testing on and off the water in the morning (pull-ups, benchpresses, inverted rows, sit-ups, a 4’ plank, 2’ paddle-erg endurance trial, 10" paddle-erg strength test, and a 220m single craft dragon boat on-water time trial). Then, in the afternoon, we were loaded into boats for several hours of on-water drills so the coaches could observe and video individual paddle technique, as well as team dynamics. The day concluded at 4:30pm.

Everyone attended a team dinner on Saturday night,which commenced with a presentation by the Auroras Head Coach, Tanya White, and concluded with individual feedback and video reviews from the Snr C Head Coach, Kathryn Sanford.

Another cold early morning greeted us on Sunday, and we were immediately back on the water. This time, the coaches mixed it up, and everyone was moved around into different seats, including into mixed teams. We endured many hours of challenging on-water workouts, including multiple 500m races end-on-end, a short break, and then multiple 200m sprints. After a short lunch break, we were back on the water for 1000m pursuit races before the day concluded with a debrief at 3:00pm.

It was a fabulous experience! The exhilaration of being in an Opens boat filled with athletes competing at an elite level is unforgettable. The Women’s crews were incredibly competitive, too. Everyone working in harmony and with a common purpose to make the boat fly!

Steve, Kerry, and I all came away from the weekend grateful for the opportunity to build on our individual knowledge and experience and to have renewed old friendships and built new ones. We were also incredibly proud to be representing SUDU … and to explain to anyone who asked what it meant (there were lots of those!).

We won’t know until late November whether any of us has been successful. Whatever happens, we want to thank the coaches and all the members of the club for your support and encouragement. It’s been a journey that we’ve been on together. Thank you everyone 💓👏👏

Location

Morshead Dr, Barton ACT 2600, Australia