Local dragon boater, Estella Ferri, recently returned from Pattaya, Thailand, where she competed as part of the national dragon boating team, Australian Auroras, in the 14th Asian Dragon Boat Championships.

Estella, a member of Orange’s Colour City Dragons, says she is proud to have represented Australia and to have brought home three silver medals for her efforts.

Preparing for competition on the world stage is no stroll in the park. In the lead-up to the event Estella undertook intensive training in the gym, involving a lot of cardio, strength training and then there were rigorous exercises on the water — and days of travelling back and forth between Orange and Sydney.

“Sometimes it was really a lot but it really built up my fitness for competing in Thailand,” Estella said.

It was just six years ago that Estella took up Dragon Boating, discovering a competitive side to herself that she didn’t know she had.

“I noticed some local crews so I thought I’d just come along and check it out and I enjoyed it immensely. I just loved it, out here on the lake, it’s just serene — it really hooked me, and so I started checking out local regattas.” 

COVID, of course, put a halt to Dragon Boating competitions and Estella was forced to keep up her fitness with other techniques while waiting for lockdowns and restrictions to end.

“After COVID when things started opening back up, I thought I'm really going to give this a shot,” she said.

“So I put in an expression of interest to the NSW State Premier team and made it into the crew.”

Competing in Adelaide, the NSW teams took home two silver medals and a gold. So, when Estella saw a chance to try out for the Auroras, she jumped at the opportunity, and was invited to attend a camp. 

“From the camp I actually got into the Auroras premier team, then it was just six weeks of really hitting the water – the gym training was pretty intense,” she added.

But this hasn’t deterred Estella's ambitions.

“Part of me just wants to paddle and compete in as many countries as possible,” she said.

Estella credits her international success to the support of her local team members in the Colour City Dragons.

“Colour City has been so supportive. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt from my experience is that it's so important to surround yourself with people who understand your why, encourage you and push you that little bit harder and Colour City has done a great job doing that,” she said.

“Give it a go, come join Colour City [Dragons] for a training session or two, we have social paddlers, we have really competitive paddlers, but just being out on that water is incredible!”