PERSHORE Phoenix Dragon Boat Racing Club members turned on the style as they secured victory in a snow competition in the Alps.
‘Paddlers’ from the Pershore club joined others to form a team called ‘Iced Gems’ which raced in a quarter-tonne boat which, along with the paddlers, is mounted on to skis – a sight to behold.
The event was held at Le Grand-Bornand in south-eastern France and the Iced Gems squad was made up of people from the Pershore and Worcester area as well as competitors from Henley-on-Thames and Milton Keynes.
The team had never raced a dragon boat on snow before but competed against teams from the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland to win the event, with the first three positions being England first, Germany second and France third.
Dan and Linda from Pershore Phoenix said it was a fantastic event in a wonderful setting and their opinion was surely not swayed at all by the fact their team had just won the event overall.
Elsewhere, fellow members of Pershore Phoenix trained on the beautiful River Avon – as it happened in the sunshine – which was nice but, as the coach on the day said, “of course it is not the Alps”.
This was the club’s first foray into dragon boat racing on snow and from the reports it is something that might be on the calendar for next winter.
Anybody interested in getting fit or improving fitness in 2020, paddling a dragon boat or any of the other club activities is welcome to make contact via the web page or come along on a Sunday.
Pershore Phoenix is a small, friendly club which shares the beautiful home base of Arden Sailing Club on the River Avon. Visit pershorephoenix.com and ardensc.org.uk.