Fashion show helping Boopops paddlers get to Italy

Boobops – the Bay of Plenty’s dragon boat club for breast cancer survivors – is sending a team to the Club Crew World Championships in Italy in September next year.

Fundraising for the trip begins next week with a fun fashion show at Te Puke Citizens RSA.

Coach Judith Butler says there has been great support for the event from the local community, including Street 2 Surf Clothing, those who have put their hands up to strut their stuff on the catwalk and those who have already bought tickets.

“But it’s a fun thing, it’s not really about the fashion,” she says.

The club has qualified for the championships on the back of some impressive performances.

“It’s something we’ve never looked at before, but we are now because we’ve never been so good. We have been exceptionally good with our times – and so we get to go to Italy.”

There will be one crew at the championships, with supporters also making the trip.

The club is the biggest in New Zealand, and numbers were further boosted following a have-a-go day last month.

Boobops embrace the camaraderie of dragon boating, where members enjoy not only the company of each other as breast cancer survivors, but also the health benefits associated with the exercise of the upper body, core and mental strength.

Membership is diverse, but they all have one thing in common – a history of breast cancer.

Some of paddlers have been members since the club was formed 20 years ago, and members range in age from their 30s to their 80s.

Members come from across the Bay of Plenty, as well as Matamata and Waihī.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. One in nine New Zealand women will develop it during their lives. About 3500 women are diagnosed each year. It can also occur in men, with approximately 25 men diagnosed each year in New Zealand.

The fashion night is at Te Puke Citizens RSA on October 12. To find out about tickets, email boobopsrock@gmail.com.