By Svenja Franke-Bruhn
The Vienna Pink Dragons are sending their best wishes for a great paddle season around the world. Of course, it is not easy everywhere. We are fully aware of that, coming slowly out of winter here and the Covid case numbers rising more than ever. We have had a few paddlers braving the cold and short days. However, spring seems not to be too far away and we had a great paddle in early February: no wind, hardly anyone else on the water and the sun shining bright. Great for the soul! We hope to be able to welcome newbies in April, when the water temperature has reached a comfortable level. Security first. Also, one cannot expect beginners to invest in Neoprene gear straight away ;-).
High Intensity Training, Resistance Training and a stretch session continue to be offered via Zoom and are enjoyed by many Vienna Pink Dragons.
We are looking forward to an exciting first half-year as some of us will paddle the Vogalonga and the festival in Venice as well as returning to the highest race in the world at the beginning of July in Defereggental, Tirol. In between we hope to be able to establish the 3rd Pink Festival around the Dragonboat Cup Ost in Vienna on the 25.6.22. We have already begun planning for this event. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the pandemic is not playing havoc yet again like it did for so many for us. Our local events like Pinkathlon and the Dragon Games will keep us busy too.
We really hope to return to a more normal life at the club with the popular lunches after the paddle too.
Meanwhile in Germany the trend of establishing new pink teams continues to rise. In the last newsletter some of the newer IBCPC members presented themselves. I would like to continue with the report sent in by Katja Riemer, team captain of the Weser Pinkies in Bremen.
“The Weser Pinkies from Bremen were founded in 2017. The team currently consists of around 35 female paddlers who train together once a week. So far, we have taken part in regattas in Bremen and Emden. At the end of the season, we love to go to Emden to take part in the Lampionfahrt - this was the only time we were in a dragon boat together in 2021 - since the beginning of the pandemic, we have switched to Stand Up Paddling to keep our distance better and are planning our new start in the boat in April. In November, our team was awarded the "Great Star of Sport" in silver for the project "Du paddelst nicht allein" (You don't paddle alone) and is thus nominated for the national final in January with the award ceremony by the Federal President. We are happy that we can make pink paddling even more known through this.”
Also, the newest IBCPC member, the TVK Pink Dragons from Essen, have sent in some photos to share. They are paddling in my old hometown on a beautiful stretch of the river Ruhr. I consider myself very lucky to be welcomed so warmly and I am looking forward to paddle with them whenever I am back in Essen. The team is still young but full of enthusiasm and they also managed to get some new team shirts as you can see in the last photo.
