Taranaki breast cancer survivors paddle on to the world stage.
They were given a “wooden dunger” but there was no one to paddle it. Now, a 15-year dream has taken a group of Taranaki-based breast cancer survivors to international heights.
After inspiration struck Taranaki Dragons founding members Kathleen Moriarty and Alyson Fitzsimons, the task to fill 22 seats ahead of the 2023 IBCPC Dragon Boat Festival wasn’t easy.
“The dream was to set up a breast cancer survivors team, but it took a long time to come to fruition”, said Moriarty.
“We didn’t have much. We had paddles which were fundraised for, we had a group of people who were really keen to start the club and we had this old boat, so we launched it and went from there.”
In 2007, they had no idea about the sport until they were guided in the right direction by their Wellington companions.
“We had someone from CanSurvive [a Wellington-based crew] tell us that we shouldn’t go up the river without a sweep. We didn’t actually have a sweep back then,” she said.
Located three hours from the nearest club, their goal became even more out of reach, so they relied on family and friends to fill the seats.
“Over the years we’ve turned into quite a big club, and we’ve got two boats now,” said Fitzsimons.
“We go out on the river and we have lots of fun, but we are very competitive as well, and we saw that in Karapiro.”
In April, breast cancer and the paddling passion unified teams, such as the newly formed Taranaki Pinks, from around the world for the dragon boating event.
“That was a really good experience for all of our people, because not everybody’s been to a great, big regatta like that,” said Fitzsimons.
The event drew over 2000 paddlers to New Zealand from 21 countries, noted International Breast Cancer Paddling Committee (IBCPC) president Meri Gibson.
“That’s the biggest women-only sporting event in the world,” she said.
“It is not about participation any longer. It’s about being an athlete, and we become really strong athletes.”
“When you’re out there paddling, it’s not about being a survivor, it’s about being loving life and doing what you can to the full,” said Moriarty.
Although the season is over, some club members are on the charge to wear the fern.
“It was suggested that some people might like to try for the Black Dragons, which is a national team, and we have three club members who are vying for that position,” said Moriarty.
If successful, they will join the New Zealand team to race at the world championship event in Thailand later this year.
