Exeter student takes GB Dragons to China

Stephen hails from Devon and has a strong connection with the South West, having grown up in Cullompton, attended Exeter College and is now studying at the University.

In a dragon boat made up of 20 paddlers, Stephen Donohue is the only student. His team mates come from a variety of professional disciplines ranging from business to engineering.  Stephen recently graduated in Economics and Politics from the University of Exeter and has stayed on to take a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, to train to be a Maths teacher.

Having joined the Exeter Dragon Boat racing club ‘Exe-calibre’ when he was 12, he began competing nationally from the age of 16 and has continued to show a great commitment to the increasingly popular sport. Stephen has also been the Head coach of the club since 2005, where he trained 10 times a week during the winter. Since February he has been working out twice daily in preparation for the international race in China. Added to this Stephen is disciplined enough to train on his own on the canal and the river Exe, as well as punishing regimes of circuit and weight training at the University of Exeter Sports Park.

This extensive preparation is required for the gruelling competition which consists of racing at 5 different venues at an international standard over a 14 day period across Zhuahi, Zhanjiang, Nanning, Huizhou, Gungzhou. These highly prestigious races generate crowds of over 250,000 per event, in addition to expected television audiences of millions.

Technical ability, teamwork and a competitive spirit are key elements to Dragon Boat racing. The sport is both physically and mentally demanding, though it remains an exciting sport to be a part of. Stephen explained, ’The fierce competition, colourful tournaments, the huge diversity within the sport are incredible and the feeling of being in a boat with 19 other people working together for a common cause, that of victory, is priceless. I find training your body to be able to sprint and develop stamina for distance races is seriously hard work and training on my own is a mental challenge to maintain a strong focus.’

As there are 20 people in the boat it may be easy to hide and not put maximum effort into moving the boat forward, however Stephen is quick to explain. He said, ‘If one person doesn’t pull their weight, you know you don’t have a chance of winning. So the personal challenge when racing is to give your all.’

Stephen is aware that his passion for Dragonboating helps him to be a focused sportsman as well as a more capable student whose career in teaching is likely to benefit from his involvement in this sport. He explained why it is the only sport for him, ‘I think the themes of teamwork, hard work, personal commitment, self-discipline and self-confidence which Dragonboating brings are applicable in any walk of life.  If as a teacher I can pass on just one of these things I think that would be a success.’