The Bei Loon Pinks dragon boat team are a thriving group of breast cancer survivors
For Jenny Neilson, there’s nothing like paddling the Pittwater on a beautiful Sunday morning with her Bei Loon Pinks dragon boat team, a group of 27 women who are all breast cancer survivors, affectionately known as the ‘Pinks.’
“It’s peaceful, it’s rhythmic and you’re with company that understands you and is not judgmental,” says Jenny, president of the Pinks. “A group of girls who just enjoy the friendship and camaraderie of being out there together.”
Jenny joined the team in Bayview 10 years ago to meet new people, having moved to North Narrabeen. Herself a breast cancer survivor, Jenny had experienced a year of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, and had osteoporosis.
“Dragon boat paddling can be enormously helpful,” she explains. “Particularly for those women who get lymphoedema, which is swelling in the arm following breast cancer surgery.”
While Jenny hadn’t been involved in team sports before, she was warmly welcomed to the Pinks.
“For somebody like me who was never interested in sport, other than just swimming and kayaking a little bit, it was lovely to be with a group of girls all working for the same aim, which is to be physically fit and have a social network,” Jenny explains. The group will often meet up for coffee and activities outside of paddling, she added.
The Pinks are part of the larger Bei Loon Dragon Boat Club, a group of 110 members, with ‘Bei Loon’ meaning northern dragons.
The Pinks team was established in 2004, and currently has members aged from 54 to 84. They meet at Rowland Reserve in Bayview, where they train for 90 minutes following a thorough warm-up. The boat holds 20 people, a ‘sweep’ who steers the boat, and a drummer (during competitions only) who keeps the beat. Paddlers sit in rows of two, and team-mates take turns switching sides in the boat, so they paddle with both their left side, and their right side.
They compete in national and international regattas, against fellow breast cancer survivor teams and general teams.
Next year the Pinks are travelling to France for the International Breast Cancer Paddler’s Commission Participatory Dragon Boat Festival.
Jenny says new members are always welcome and are eased into the activity by the team coach, with safety high on the agenda.
“We really want to bring them in and just be able to support them through this episode in their life,” she says. “And if they can get some exercise as well, they benefit from that.”
For more information, visit: beiloonpinks.com