Please note: This article is as of 2018!
Text and above photo by Julie Doyle, Chairman of the Irish Dragon Boat Association
Dragon Boating in Ireland
The Irish Dragon Boat Association (IDBA) is the National Governing Body of the sport of dragon boat racing in Ireland (including Northern Ireland). The IDBA is responsible for all aspects of the sport from community development through to managing Irish teams racing abroad.
Dragon boating was originally introduced to Ireland in the early 1990’s when boats were brought from the UK to hold events. In 2005 the IDBA was formed, though only really in name, until the Association was formally launched in Dublin in October 2010 by myself. With no funding from any Governmental departments we have worked hard to grow the association from its humble beginnings to where it is today.
The IDBA is a member of both the European Dragon Boat Federation (EDBF) and the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) and as such is recognised as the only Governing Body in Ireland.
IDBA Mission
To make dragon boat racing a mass participation sport throughout the whole 32 counties of Ireland and make the sport accessible to all ages and abilities.
The IDBA aims to:
- Encourage the development of dragon boat clubs – Regular, mixed, junior & BCS.
- Encourage the highest standards of paddle sport.
- Promote and develop physical activity particularly in the junior age range.
- Raise awareness about lifestyle and health management in the areas of health, exercise and nutrition.
- Develop common approaches towards the provision of training and skills development; this in turn will support engagement with local communities.
- Organise dragon boat regattas to encourage the non-athlete that sport can be enjoyable as well as being good for your physical and mental health, and that dragon boating is an excellent team building sport.
- Promote and develop physical activity to support recovery from cancer treatment.
- Improve the physical and psychological wellbeing of people who have or have had Breast Cancer. (Research has shown that repetitive upper body movement can aid those individuals suffering from Lymphedema).
The IDBA has 14 registered clubs and at least half of these have more than one team that races at our events. There is also another 3 clubs that will come on line in 2019. The clubs are spread throughout Ireland from Cork Dragons, Cork in the south of Ireland to Donegal Dragons in the North West, Lagan Dragons in the North East (Northern Ireland) and others located in the Dublin and surrounding areas.
Unlike most countries our demographics here in Ireland are circa 70% female and 30% male athletes. This maybe due to the Executive Committee being female or the fact that we have pushed the BCS element of the sport. We have also done a lot of work ensuring there are plenty of female helms which again is different to a lot of countries.
The Irish Senior Women’s team has now competed in two European Nations Championships, the latest in Germany successfully achieving 4 silver medals.
The IDBA run 3 regattas a year for its clubs to compete in – Athy Dragon Boat Regatta, Barrow Dragon Boat Regatta and the Dublin Hong Kong Dragon Boat Regatta which is a two day international event. We normally get 6 – 8 international teams attending each year with a total of 56 teams racing over the weekend. Some of the clubs also host smaller regattas.
The IDBA also runs a number of corporate events our biggest being Dragons At The Docks which this year saw 12 dragon boats and 72 teams compete for the title. The event raised over €250,000 for the Dublin Simon Community which is a charity which works to prevent and address homelessness in Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath.
We are also working hard to develop the quality of paddling and coaching within the country to ensure that we can compete with the best in the world.
Julie Doyle – Chairman
Irish Dragon Boat Association
Email: info@dragonboat.ie
