About Us

Established in 1998 Brisbane River Dragons (BRD) is the oldest dragon boat club in Brisbane. We are a competitive yet social paddling club that train and compete throughout the year.

While dragon boating is our core activity, we provide members with the opportunity to train in a range of canoes types from OC6 and OC2 outrigger canoes and of course the biggest of them all, dragon boats! Our training sessions are tailored for all level of paddlers, social or serious. Our competition goals are being pursued with annual campaigns at the State and National levels becoming more successful each year. BRD has recently been supported by several government grants which have enabled us to further develop our fleet and begin to implement our business plan, which will guide our future growth and development.

There are five different categories in which we compete competitively during the local dragon boat season which is from August to April the following year.

Junior (12-18 yrs)
Premier (any age)
Masters (40 yrs+)
Grand Masters (50 yrs+)
Dragons Abreast (any age)
Each category has men, women and mixed divisions.

The end of each local season culminates in the State Titles where Queensland’s best crews and clubs are decided. At this stage crews are selected to represent Queensland at the National Titles which are held annually in a different State around Australia. Club crews are also entitled to compete at the National Titles over a number of different distances. (200m, 500m, 2,000m)

At the highest level there is the chance to compete internationally. A number of regattas are held around the world including the World Titles and the World Club Crew Championships.

Many members of BRD have competed and won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for Australia at the IDBF World Championships and BRD as a club has a proud history of competing in several World Club Crew Championships in some amazing venues around the world. BRD was the first Australian club to contest all categories in the 2008 World Club Crew Championships in Malaysia which was an amazing achievement, and we repeated the feat at the 2010 World Club Crew Championships in Macau, China and will once again do it at the 2012 championships in Hong Kong.

Macau was our most successful championships with three (3) world club titles - to our Masters Women's Crew, and several silver and bronze medals to other crews - an excellent achievement considering 80 of the best clubs attended from around the globe.