STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Dragon boat racing at Donegal Town Pier. PHOTOS Blaithín Murphy
Strong winds forecast for Saturday have led to the rescheduling of the Donegal Town dragon boat regatta.
The event featuring dragon paddlers from around the world had been due to take place at Donegal Town pier on Saturday, July 29 with racing from 1pm to 5pm. It will run to the same schedule on Sunday, July 30. The local club would love to see plenty of support for the home crews taking part.
This regatta has a real international flavour, with paddlers from all over Ireland, the UK, Australia and a full crew coming all the way from Canada.
Dragon boat racing is a wonderfully colourful celebratory spectacle - and it is a highly competitive sport, with crews of 16 paddling in perfect sync in 200m sprints. Each boat also has a helm and drummer.
Some of the teams - including the Donegal crews - are made up wholly or partly of breast cancer survivors who have embraced this sport for its physical and mental health benefits. While this is a fiercely competitive sport on the water, there is phenomenal camaraderie among participants.
This year will see regular competitors returning, while a number of new teams are also taking part. New clubs include the Devenish Dragons based in Enniskillen, and Belfast Phoenix Paddlers, a new team who are really making waves in the Irish dragon boat racing scene, having recently won the Irish Dragon Boat Association’s regatta in Carlow in style.
The West Island Dragons are also making their first appearance in Donegal, coming all the way from Canada to take part.
As well as organising the event, Donegal Dragons have been training hard, and will be entering a number of crews in the competition. They would love to see support for their paddlers, and for the youth crew Donegal Dolphins.
With hundreds of participants travelling to the area along with family and friends, the event will be a great boost for the local economy.
Indeed, many people who have come to this regatta over the years have returned on holidays with their families, and are always keen to come back and take part in racing.
More information can be found on the Donegal Dragons Facebook page.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
