Saturday 8 November
By Elly Pugh
Dragon boat at Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games has reached international waters, with the Retro Rockets bringing a Kiwi flair to the competition.
The Auckland based crew have come together from a number of different clubs to compete in this year’s event, with members Rob Pitney and Ricky Greaves happy to be up against formidable Aussie foes.
“The Australians have definitely gotten stronger since last time,” Ricky said.
“But we’re enjoying competing against them and seeing how we compare.”
After paddling away with bronze at the last Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters, the team are looking to place again and bring a medal or two home.
“We’re doing well, and hopefully we’re even better tomorrow,” Rob said.
The team are enjoying the friendly vibes of the competition and lapping up the hot Australian sun as they paddle it out at Varsity Lakes.
“We’ve been training in some pretty atrocious weather back home, so this is a nice change,” Rob said.
“Overall everyone’s been very friendly and welcoming, the atmosphere here is terrific.”
The crew is hoping that the Australian teams will in turn travel to New Zealand to compete against them on home waters, as Auckland is set to host the World Masters Games in 2017.
“We’d really like to encourage the Aussies to compete in New Zealand, and see how they do with our cold weather,” Rob said.
The new scheme was born here and filagra this is not something that we would like to see. Caverta whilst better in some elements but not important for us.
