Dragon boating on Lake Burley Griffin is stunning, says Dr Sally Bromley, the new head coach of the Canberra Ice Dragons, the ACT’s own Guinness World Record-winning club. “Glassy mornings and evenings; Canberra’s so beautiful.”

Jane Farrell began dragon boating in her fifties. “I never thought I’d take up something and enjoy it so much, and be so competitive and social at the same time,” she said. And being out on the water is a beautiful, peaceful feeling.

You can get a taste for the sport at the club’s open day this Saturday 4 December, from 11am to 1pm, at Commonwealth Place, near the flags.

Current paddlers will take ‘rookies’ out for a try in the boats. There will also be music, food, entertainment, racing, and games.

You can register on Facebook, or turn up on the day. (Weather permitting; if Saturday is wet, the event will be postponed to January.)

Dragon boating is a challenging but low impact full body fitness sport, say Sal and Jane. A crew of 10 paddle the boat; a ‘sweep’ in the back steers the boat; and a drummer in the front helps the crew stay in time.

The history of dragon boating goes back 2,000 years to ancient China. It commemorates a poet who drowned himself in protest against a harsh government. In those days, dragon boating was often violent: crews would hit other boats with sticks; spectators would throw stones; and it was considered a good omen if somebody drowned.

Fortunately, like football, the modern sport is much safer. From Hong Kong in the 1970s, it spread around the world; today, more than 50 million people in 60 countries are dragon boaters. (Some traditions still last, though; in China, some dragon boats are designed to be smashed as they race down tight canals.)

The Canberra Ice Dragons were formed in 2003, and have been national club champions three times (2009, 2011, 2014). In 2009, the club broke the Guinness World Record for the longest distance paddled in a dragon boat over a 24-hour period: 168.5 km, 20km ahead of the previous record.

New coach Sal has competed around the world with the Australian team, from Korea and Hungary to Canada, the US, China, and Thailand. She saw a poster at her university, forgot about it for a few months, went to a ‘come and try’ day, and fell in love with it.

“You can compete in awesome places with awesome people and get really fit doing it,” she said.

Dragon boating, in fact, appeals to all ages and levels of fitness, says Jane: the youngest paddler is in high school, the oldest in their sixties. Other sports are age-oriented, but a crew can have people of all ages in it.

“Males, females, doesn’t matter who or what age they are, they’re all welcome to Ice Dragons.”

That includes transgender people, too; Sal is the first non-binary coach of any sport in the ACT, and the club’s mascot is Lola the transgender unicorn.

No base fitness is required, Jane says, making it a great sport for people to enter. When she started, she recalled, she had very little fitness; now, she has become adept at PT, too.

“If anyone’s feeling a bit sluggish post-COVID, if they’ve put on a few kilos they don’t want, it will come off pretty quick,” Sal said.

You don’t have to be brilliantly co-ordinated, either. “If you can grasp a paddle, we will teach you to paddle,” Sal said.

The first season is mostly about enjoyment and getting used to the feeling of paddling – “a very different way of moving your body,” Sal said. Rookies gradually build efficiency that allows them to race, and feel at ease skimming across the water. “When you first start, it’ll be a challenge,” Sal said. “It’s a skill-based sport – so much like throwing a ball, the better that you get at it, the easier it gets.”

The early sessions might leave you feeling a little sore, though. “Why does my whole body ache?” Jane wondered after her first time. “This is supposed to be just my arms!” After her first training session, Sal couldn’t lift her arms the next day. “I loved it – you didn’t realise how hard you were working until you finished the session, because you were having so much fun.”

And showing up to dragon boating is easier than going to the gym, Sal said, because you’ve committed to a group of people, rather than having to push past your own excuses.

“You get so caught up in the vibe that you end up training and getting really fit without intending to,” she said. “If you just show up because you love it, because you want to talk to people, because it’s been lonely lately, then the team will help you with your fitness. It’s just so much fun, and getting fit is a really awesome side-effect.”

Dragon boating is a safe sport. Sal sustained three major injuries in martial arts, but has never been injured dragon boating. “That’s because every training session, you can control how hard you paddle; you build your fitness as you can.” In fact, several dragon boaters are ex-rugby and ex-AFL players who busted their knees; dragon boating allows them to keep fit and compete.

The dragon boating season runs from September to April, but club members paddle on Saturdays in the off season. Membership costs $275 for adults and $155 for students (less for those starting later in the season), but the first month is free, and all equipment is provided.

The Ice Dragons train on Monday and Wednesday afternoons (5.45-7pm) and Saturday mornings (8.30-10am).

The public is welcome to try any Saturday training session, even if you miss the open day; Sal will take you along in a speedboat that travels alongside the dragon boat.

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