IT HAS been a stellar month for those involved at Shipley's Yorkshire Sharks Dragonboat Club.

At the beginning of September, two of the club's local heroes travelled to Spain to compete for Great Britain at the EDBF’s European Nation’s Championships- where they won five medals between them.

Sophie Grincourt and Andrew Hyde were the individuals in question and they were able to represent Bradford in the strongest possible light, most notably their club known as the Yorkshire Sharks-which was established in 2019 out of the Bradford Dragonboat Festival.

Dragonboating may not be familiar to most, but it is the ultimate team sport. A 14.5metre boat (fully dressed with head and tail) is used to hold 22 people-which include a helm, a drummer and 20 forward facing paddlers, and Grincourt had the privilege of representing her nation in sunny Spain, something which she was immensely proud to do.

Speaking to the T&A, the Yorkshire Sharks' star said: "It was an amazing experience for myself because I've only been doing dragonboating for three years. So, to join the Great Britain team after such a short amount of time was a brilliant feeling.

"I completed the trials at the beginning of the year and in April I received the call to ask if I wanted to join as the helm (person in charge) of the team, and of course I accepted the offer. I felt privileged to be able to represent Great Britain in a sport I've become to love, despite only being involved in it for three years."

Grincourt added: "The events and competition lasted a week and although it was extremely professional and serious, I was able to really enjoy myself. To bring home the medals we did was overwhelming and it brought me great pride. We collected bronze in both the 200 and 500 metre women's races; the 200 we expected to do well in but the 500 metre was a really nice surprise because there was some great competition.

"To think that we formed as a club in 2019 with the help of a few local people, it's really amazing to see what we've become today."

To top off a fine month for the club, Grincourt and Hyde, along with Danny Patchett, a member of the club who represented Great Britain in 2019 in Thailand at the World Championships, were invited for a celebratory afternoon tea with the Loyd Mayor of Bradford on Thursday afternoon.

The Yorkshire Sharks Dragonboat Club are based on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Shipley and Trustee of the club and former dragonboat World Champion, John Galt, was also present at the City Hall for Thursday's events.

He said: "I originally set up the Bradford Dragonboat Festival and I was actively looking for more people to get involved with the sport. I set up Bradford Barracudas in Denholme but I wanted a base far closer to Bradford's city centre and the canal gave me the option to do that with the Yorkshire Sharks.

"As a club, we are really starting to grow now and are constantly looking for more individuals to join our ever-growing group-where we have 40 to 50 members. It's great to see the club grow this quick. To have members selected for GB, to then be asked to celebrate their achievements with the Lord Mayor, it's truly amazing and I'm proud to be involved with this club."

To find out more information about the sport and how to join up with the Yorkshire Sharks, visit: https://yorkshiresharks.co.uk/