About Us

Inspiring and Thriving

Welcome to all new and old members and we hope you enjoy paddling with us.

Don’t worry if you have never paddled before, we welcome all new members.

While we are primarily a team of breast cancer survivors, male and female, we have also expanded to include other cancers and friends and families of those affected.

Our aim is to promote dragon boating as a sport, to raise awareness of breast cancer, to support our members in their mental and physical fitness and to have fun doing so

Our Story

Cork Dragons was established in 2012. The initiative was the brainchild of Canadian Sports Medicine Specialist Don McKenzie and is supported by a steering committee made up of the HSE: Health Promotion Department; Cork ARC House; Meithal Mara and The Prince Clinic (specialists in treating lymphedema). Traditional thinking emphasised rest and compression of the area for lymphedema sufferers. However, there has been a turnaround in this thinking and now exercise is encouraged. The paddling movement itself is believed to help alleviate and in some cases prevent lymphedema, a complication for many patients following breast surgery. If you are recovering from breast cancer, we recommend a minimum of three months after completion of therapy before beginning this sport and as with any exercise to take medical advice before signing up.