FORMER Bude woman Amanda Furse has been amongst the medals again as she represented Australia at the Asian Dragon Boat Championships in Adelaide recently.

Amanda, 29, moved to Melbourne from Bude in 2013, where she joined the Yarra River Dragons, based at Docklands in Melbourne.

Dragon boating is an exciting sport that has really taken Australia by storm in recent years with teams competing in state competitions as well as annual national competitions.

The brightly painted fibreglass boats are approximately 12 metres long and decorated with a dragon’s head and tail.

Each boat holds up to 20 paddlers sitting side by side. There is a sweep — helmsman — who steers the boat and the paddlers are kept in time by a drummer who beats a large drum.

Her only experience in the water whilst she lived in England was when she paddled for Kingston Royals in London and a bit of rowing with her parents for Bude Gig Club.

Since she started getting into the Dragon Boat scene, it was clear she had a talent as she helped her club side reach three major finals last year, coming sixth overall in Australia.

As well as that Amanda and her Yarra River Dragons team represented Victoria and won gold at the Australian National Championships in Perth last April.

This was the side’s first national competition and gave Amanda the confidence to try out for the Australian national team.

Nearly a year on and Amanda not only tried out for the national team, but was chosen to compete for Australia at the Asian Championships at the end of last month as part of the Australian Auroras team.

The Auroras are Australia’s national representative dragon boating team, comprising of Australia’s strongest and most dedicated paddlers.

Since their inception in 2010 by AusDBF, they have grown in strength and are now an international force.

Facing stiff competition the Auroras did incredibly well and came home with a very impressive haul of medals.

The final medal toll for the ladies was a silver in the ladies’ 2km, a silver in ladies’ 10s boat and 20s boat 500ms, a bronze in ladies’ 10s boat 200ms and a silver in 20s boat 200ms.

Amanda said: “It was an incredible experience and amazing to paddle with these guys and against China as one of the best in the world!”