The Kempsey club, also known as the River Rats, claimed first place in the Women's, Mixed and 2km Spirit of the Macleay Challenge.

Meanwhile local rivals the Dragons on the Rocks from South West Rocks, grabbed a podium finish of equal third in the Men's division.

Regatta organiser Belinda Fowler was overwhelmed by the success of the event, with hundreds of people attending to compete and spectate.

"Overall the event was hugely successful, with 11 Clubs participating in the event as well as six full community teams," Ms Fowler said.

"The atmosphere was amazing on the riverbank, it was so colorful, the music was so much fun and the racing kept us on the edge of our seats.

"This is by far the biggest Regatta held by the Kempsey Macleay Dragon Boat Club, and the most successful. Never before have the Club hosted a 2km challenge, to have 10 entrants in that class was just awesome.

"In addition spanning the event across two days saw entrants come to the Macleay and stay for the weekend. We had clubs participating from the Central Coast to Ballina."

Ms Fowler was impressed by the club's performances and they are looking forward to continuing the momentum for the rest of the season.

"The sports teams all had an amazing time. I'm so proud to have gone through the results and over all in every category the Kempsey River Rats 10 Wise Rats produced the fastest times in each event with the exception of the mens category," Ms Fowler said.

"We are very hopefull that some of the community paddlers will come an join our club and train with us to compete, some of those big strong Cannonballs players would be amazing.

"We had the greatest time introducing Dragon Boat Racing to our community, and we would really like to thank everyone that participated or helped us along the way."

Ms Fowler thanked the sponsors and volunteers who helped make the day a success.

"We had some fantastic sponsors for the event too - Central Kempsey IGA, Kempsey Macleay RSL, Home Instead Senior Care, Coastal Wealth Directions, Bucket Brewery, Carpet Direct, Country Care Removals, Eagle Insurance, Kempsey Camping World & Complete Angler and Kempsey Rotary.

"Thank you to Fredo Pies for coming along with great coffee and food, also the hard working team of Kempsey Rotary Club and the volunteers from the Kempsey SES who did an amazing job out there on the water, they did not stop all day."

The event won't be a one off, as the plan is to make the occasion an annual regatta and also to continue to include the community event - so start thinking about your teams now.

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