The River Rats were undefeated in all the heats and subsequent finals of the Men’s Women’s and Mixed divisions on the Taree Dragon Boat challenge which incorporated 12 teams from Coffs Harbour to Newcastle.

With a rigorous training plan in place, the club combined precision paddling with fitness and power to extend their winning run.

Head coach Mark Bradney said it felt good to get back out in the water after the Christmas break.

“Taree is always a nice place to race and to win the way that we did was a great way to the start 2015,” he said.

“We implemented a new training regime after the Christmas break and it seems to be working well. Hopefully we can continue this sort of form in our upcoming events.

This successful regatta follows the club's nomination in the Australia Day Community Award.

The next regatta is the prestigious Chinese New Year regatta on Darling Harbour on February 28 where the cream of the Dragon Boat community will be in attendance.

It’s popularity within the dragon boat community is shown by the limits which are placed on entry numbers.

Last year the club finished 4th in the Masters Women and were hot favourites to take out the Grand Masters Mixed but a collision with an adjacent boat put an end to the quest.

Bradney said the event is always an early highlight for the River Rats in their events calendar.

“For us, the Taree regatta is part of the build up to Darling Harbour,” he said.

“It is good to get some time out there racing before the big day. We will be looking to improve on our performance from last year.”