About Us
Gráine Mhaol, Mayo Dragon Boat Club established in 2015
The Club is named after the infamous pirate queen Gráinne Mhaol who hailed from Mayo. The unique spelling of Gráine is in memory of a friend called Áine, who passed away from Breast Cancer.
8 Years of Paddling
Gráine Mhaol Dragon Boat Club started up in July 2015 after 2 months of researching the sport , buying a boat and having a training weekend with Julie Doyle from the Irish Dragon Boat Association (IDBA).
Louise Killeen, Kay Moran and Lorraine Foy are the Club’s founding members and after a whirlwind of organising funding, a secure place to launch from and a big membership, the club took off with great success.
Initially the Club was set up as a Cancer survivors club but as time went on, the committee decided to open it up to friends and family of Cancer survivors as they have been along the journey with their loved ones too.
As the Club grew over the years, the committee realised that there was a lot of interest from others in the community, as the benefits of the sport were very suitable for vulnerable people. The paddling and just being on the water had a calming effect while at the same time the structure of the sessions, was very grounding. People from all walks of life have tried out paddling and come away feeling exhilarated and happy, while having had a good work out.
The core group of the Club are still the Cancer Survivors group.
Training & Membership
We compete at regattas every year and we work on an 8 -9 week plan towards each regatta, this leaves plenty of time in between to have fun and have more social paddling.
We train twice weekly, early on a Saturday morning and on Tuesday evenings with two training sessions on a busy day. One session is a beginners/social paddle and the other is for experienced paddlers.
We offer two sessions to anyone that wants to try out paddling and if they are happy to continue, they can join as a member. ‘Come and Try’ sessions are also organised throughout the year.
Annual membership is €75 (with €60 early bird until the end of March).