Snapdragons walk the Mother's Day Classic

We have been doing a few things other than fundraising for Canada.  On Mothers day a group of us took to the streets of South Bank in Brisbane.  We did the 4.5km walk for the Mother's Day Classic which raised funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation to promote research into breast cancer prevention and treatment.  

Of course we did it in the loudest and brightest possible way!  The only way we like to do things! :)

We wore our beautiful new club uniforms and made sure everyone knew we were a team of breast cancer survivors and supporters.  We certainly got a lot of attention as you can see from the photos of the day.

A big thanks to our member Del for encouraging us all to join her this year.  I'm pretty sure we'll be back bigger and better next year!  Check out their website.  http://mothersdayclassic.com.au/

xoxo Jules

Aren't we gorgeous!!!

Del, our organiser!

We don't like attention (much!)

Yay! We Finished!

3 weeks!!!!

Getting closer!  only 3 weeks now. 

Here's a few more better quality photos from our Canada dinner.  Thanks to our resident photographer Rosie Bozzi.  Fantastic group shots, the lovely ladies from Zonta who are great supporters of our club and our coach Arthur and his wife Fran one of our survivor paddlers.

Received our travel documents on the weekend. So now we all know where we are supposed to be and at what time (very, very early morning flight!!!!)  We're all getting very excited now.

xoxo Jules

4 weeks to go!

Another week has flown by and now only 4 weeks left!  

A few pics from the Bon Voyage dinner as promised.........

Our Team of Survivors going to Canada

 

The whole Canada Gang!  Survivors and Supporters.

The ladies warming up their singing voices.

Will add more as they arrive in my inbox, i'm sure there's lots more yet!

xoxo Jules

Pinkies know how to Party!

We had our Canada  "farewell" dinner last night at the Moreton Bay Boat Club and I think it's safe to say all the Members, Family and Friends had a great time.  There'll be picture evidence coming very soon! 

Thanks to the fabulous efforts of our two members Sonia Anger and Lyn Grigg for organising it all.

The meal was lovely and we all enjoyed the dancing, hugging and singing after.  I'm sure the whole of Scarborough would have heard us!  Look out Canada,  the girls are all in fine form!  I think I know which two we'll be dragging off the dancefloor over there too.......hey Rosie and Maureen! ;o)

Exciting news that Rosie Bozzie and Barbara Tolhurst have been chosen to paddle in the Sandy Smith Global Race as representatives of our team.  This is a very special race honoring Sandy Smith and her contributions to breast cancer dragon boat racing.  Click the link for more information on this race http://www.survivorsabreast.com/2010-festival-program

And didn't we all look stunning in our new Team Uniforms too.  Thanks to Bendigo Community Bank Margate branch for sponsoring.

Sorry my pic is not very good from my phone but i've been promised lots to come from all our budding photographers there last night!  

xoxo Jules

Let’s start the countdown! Less than 5 weeks to go!

Our fabulous members have been working hard fundraising for over 12 months to get a Team to the International Breast Cancer Participatory Festival in Peterborough, Canada.  We’ve been planning our trip for so long it seems incredible that suddenly it’s almost here.  June 8th is coming around fast!

So what have we been doing the last 12 months?  (what haven’t we done!).  A little catch up to remind us all........

Our ongoing monthly Jetty Markets have been a fantastic source of fundraising as well as promoting Breast Cancer Awareness, Dragons Abreast Australia and Dragonboating.  They were lots of hard work but of course we managed as usual to make them a lot of fun too.

Then there were Garage Sales.  Lots of interest in our Team came from these. 

Of course we just had to have a sausage sizzle!  What’s fundraising without one?  Yep it poured rain, thundered and flashed lightning but the ladies (and gents) got out there with their raincoats and umbrellas enticing the customers in and starting up what we think is an Aussie first, the “drive through” sausage sizzle!!

And who could forget our “Pink Bits” 2010 Calendar.  Featuring 21 of our beautiful members (all Breast Cancer Survivors), male models from Vivien's Model Management and photographed by our survivor member Rosie Bozzi.

From all the “behind the scenes” stories of these photoshoots I don’t know who had the most fun, the ladies or the models. (I think I can guess though!).

No wonder the year has gone by in a flash!

xoxo Jules

Dragon Boating for Breast Cancer Survivors

Until very recently women who’d had breast cancer surgery had been told they shouldn’t participate in sport involving upper body exercise.  Doctors and other Medical professionals believed exercise may cause or aggravate complications like lymphoedema.  Dr. Don McKenzie from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada decided to test this theory and launched a Dragon Boat team called Abreast In A Boat in 1996.  He found that dragon boating after breast cancer surgery did not impact on the severity of lymphoedema and actually improved the health of the patients.  

Please visit Abreast In A Boat’s website for more information on Dr McKenzie’s findings www.abreastinaboat.com 

The first Australian Breast Cancer Survivor Dragon Boat team was established in the Northern Territory in December 1998 and has rapidly spread across the country ever since with paddlers now in every state and territory.  

Visit Dragons Abreast Australia’s website for lots of great info on paddling for breast cancer survivors and how to join a team in your local area.  www.dragonsabreast.com 

The Redcliffe Pink Snapdragons team was started in May 2005.  Our team's founder, Jayne Coe, had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and during treatment her mother gave her a magazine article about Dragons Abreast Australia.  Jayne loved the idea and soon joined the Redcliffe Dragon Boat Racing Club and began paddling with them, as their first Breast Cancer survivor member.  It was then that Jayne decided to create a breast cancer survivor team as part of the Redcliffe club.  Jayne chose the name 'Pink Snapdragons' for something pretty and feminine for herself and for future members to really feel like women. Pink snapdragons flowers, which are featured on our club logo, are also strong and long lasting.

We love our club and welcome survivors and supporters of all ages and walks of life with open arms!   Come and join us in our boat on Saturday mornings and Monday nights or visit us for breakfast on Saturdays at the Jetty Café in Redcliffe for lots of hugs and laughter!!

Please visit our website www.pinksnapdragons.com for info on training times etc.

A little bit of dragon boat history....

Dragon Boat Racing started in China over 2000 years ago.  Traditional Festivals commemorate the death of the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the 3rd century BC in protest against a corrupt King.  Legends are that the local fishermen loved Qu Yuan so tried rescuing him by beating drums and splashing the water with their paddles to stop the fish from eating him and to scare away the evil spirits.

Dragon boating today is celebrated at festivals and regattas all over the world.  The boats are adorned with a colourful dragon head and tail which represents the Chinese Dragon believed to be a ruler of rivers and seas.  The ritual is also meant to avert calamity, drive away evil spirits and encourage rainfall, which is needed for good harvests.

The long canoe shaped boats are propelled through the water by 20 paddlers (sitting 2 abreast), 1 drummer to keep time and 1 sweep (or steersperson) to keep it on course.

The great thing about our sport is that all paddlers are equal, each paddler contributes to moving the boat forward.  You can be any age, any fitness and have no skills at first and still be a very important member of the team.  We have paddlers on our team and our sister team (the Redcliffe Red Dragons) aged from 12 to 70 plus!!