Schools Nationals
Wellington Dragon Boat Festival and NZDBA are excited to announce the 2024 NZDBA Dragon Boat NZ Schools Nationals Competition taking place on 3 March 2024.
Schools Nationals is going to happen alongside the Wellington Dragon Boat Festival Youth Competition. Youth teams from around Aotearoa will race against each other and across their divisions. Medals will be up for grabs with one set being awarded to the national winners of each division and a separate set for the Wellington winners.
The focus of the event is for school aged dragon boaters to have the chance to participate and have fun. Enjoyment is the highest priority.
Divisions
Mixed - there must be a minimum of eight boys and eight girls in a boat while racing.
Boys - all male paddlers and drummer.
Girls - all female paddlers and drummer.
Racing
Each team gets three heats and one final. In heats teams will race against crews from other divisions and then finals are division-based. The best two heat times determine which final a team lands in and which lane they are in for their final.
There are five lanes and the racecourse is approximately 300m. At the start line there are both drummers and sweeps ropes to keep boats aligned even when it’s windy.
Crews
Each team may have a maximum squad of 25 to draw upon for their 20 paddler and 1 drummer crews. Having a drummer is mandatory. Note: you must provide your own sweep, but they can be additional to the team of 25.
Location
The Wellington Dragon Boat Festival’s festival village is located on Frank Kitts Park. Each team gets a marquee space and there will be hot showers, toilets, and food stalls. Crews load into dragon boats at the Whairepo Lagoon.
The race course runs approximately 300m from Queen’s Wharf down to Te Papa.
Rules
Wellington Dragon Boat Festival’s Race Director will have the final say on whether races need to be re-run. We will not be enforcing strict IDBF rules allowing for challenges. If you have any concerns, you can talk to festival staff.
NZDBA’s focus for the national schools programme is on enjoyment of our wonderful sport rather than competition. Dragon boating is the ideal team sport for young people as it encourages teamwork, a level of fitness and engagement with one’s peers. This doesn’t mean we don’t believe there is room for development of young paddlers within our sport, for those who wish to participate competitively, however we don’t believe the right vehicle for that is the current schools programme. NZDBA will provide more details regarding plans for development of young paddlers, in due course.
Price
It costs $450 (incl. GST) per team to register for Schools Nationals. Wellington Dragon Boat Festival will liaise directly with team managers and invoice you.
Medals
NZDBA medals will be given to the national winners of each divison’s grand final.
Wellington Dragon Boat Festival will give out medals to the top three Wellington-based teams in each division.