Boobops rake in the dragon boat medals

Tauranga's multi-gold medal winning dragon boating team the Boobops. Photo / Supplied

A group of gutsy Tauranga breast cancer survivors have struck gold yet again in the gruelling sport of dragon boat racing.

The Boobops ended their 2014-15 season with another haul of medals, winning two golds and a silver at the Auckland Regional Championships, and a gold and two silvers at the National Championships a week later.

"We give it our all out on the water - we're certainly one of the teams to beat," captain Julie Sach said.

The Boobops are part of the Bay of Plenty Dragon Boat Club, and comprise 25 women ranging in age from 37 to 73.

Ms Sach said the world owed a huge thanks to the Canadian doctor who went against conventional medical thinking by saying that the best way to recover from breast cancer was upper body exercise. From that one Canadian dragon boat team, the sport has grown to 200 teams worldwide.

"Dragon boat racing is very good for post-surgical recovery, and exercising after cancer is a really good thing anyway," she said.

Ms Sach said they did not talk a lot about their cancer experiences. "We all understand what each other went through."

Dragon boat racing was more about the sense of camaraderie that came from tackling such a physical challenge with other women who had fought and beaten breast cancer.

Their coach Pip Simkin tells them that if they had not vomited from exhaustion by the end of a race then they had not paddled hard enough. They train twice a week at the height of the season, with sessions lasting up to an hour-and-a-half. They also retain fitness by walking up Mauao.

While their season has finished, the national 200m champions were not completely putting away their paddles. Such is their devotion to the sport, they will be training at least once a month over winter, while eyeing a possible trip to Adelaide next year.

Ms Sach said the Boobops were social and enjoyed hanging out with each other. One of the team had just become a naturalised New Zealander so they threw her a kiwiana party.

They are always looking for new members of the squad, which races in finals against other teams of breast cancer survivors from New Zealand and the world.