Manawa Dragons

19/08/2026

Day 1 - a tad tired but that didn’t stop Sandii & Michele getting in a day of dragon hunting in the heart of London 🐲🐉

Only a few more days until they meet up with the Kiwi Pinks: New Zealand Dragon Boat Team IBCPC France 2026 and compete at the 2026 IBCPC Participatory Dragon Boat Festival, France


Manawa Dragons Michele Cranefield SandiiLance OBrien

18/08/2026

🕶️👓 CAN YOU HELP? 👓
The glasses collected are prescription glasses, reading glasses, children’s glasses, and sunglasses and are repurposed through the Lions Recycle for Sight program. Cleaned and sorted glasses are sent to Volunteer Ophthalmologist Services Overseas (VOSO) to be distributed free to people in need.

16/08/2026

Paddled in the rain, trained through the pain💪
A massive thank you to Kerryn Maree - absolute gem paddling for us so we could get two boats on the water 💙💚

Emma Lloyd Gary Haberfield

15/08/2026

Super excited for all the teams heading to France. Congratulations on your commitment and dedication … we are all right behind you. Kia Kaha Kiwi Pinks: New Zealand Dragon Boat Team IBCPC France 2026 and the other Kiwi teams. We will be cheering you all on 💙💚

4,500 paddlers, 25 nations, 170 teams, 25 dragon boats in rotation: the IBCPC France 2026 Festival will be the largest ever held.

Ready to experience it with us? 🌍

☀️

13/08/2026

📣 OUR WEBSITE IS LIVE 🎉

We’re incredibly excited to officially launch the new Manawa Dragons website.

It is more than just a place to find information, it’s a little window into who we are, what we stand for, and what makes Manawa Dragons so special.

From our paddling journey, to our people, our values, our community and everything happening on and off the water, it’s all there.

A huge THANK YOU to Louise Stowell from Ruiha Labs for bringing our vision to life 🙏

Your creativity, patience, professionalism and ability to capture the heart of Manawa Dragons has been awesome. You have created a website that feels like us, full of heart, connection, energy and a little bit of dragon attitude 💙💚

📣 Check it out and have a look around:
www.manawadragons.co.nz

11/08/2026

If you have any Prescription or sunglasses that you don’t need anymore … here is an opportunity you may like to take up for Hamilton Dinsdale Lions Club 🙏🙏

Calling for all second-hand glasses! Adult and child - prescription and/or sunglasses.

We have a major drive on at this time to refurbish your old glasses and give them new purpose. If you have any glasses to donate, please message us here or pop them into Te Awa Specsavers, Flagstaff Rose Optometrists or Frankton Rose Optometrists and we will collect them from there.

Thank you for your support!

11/08/2026

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MICHELE & SANDII 🎉

Two very special Manawa Dragons are about to take on an exciting adventure.

Michele Cranefield and SandiiLance OBrien are heading to France as part of the Kiwi Pinks: New Zealand Dragon Boat Team IBCPC France 2026 .

They are both integral parts of Manawa Dragons, supportive, committed, passionate.

Now it’s their turn to spread their dragon wings a little further.

They’ll join thousands of paddlers from around the world at Aix-les-Bains in France where the true power of dragon boating kicks in: connection, courage, camaraderie and a whole lot of heart, coming together on the international stage.

From all of us at MManawa Dragons… we are incredibly proud of you both 💙💚

Go smash it, soak up every moment, make memories, paddle hard and show them what Kiwi dragons are made of.

Kia kaha. Paddle strong. Have a blast 💙💚

10/08/2026

This is what makes Dragons… we train in ALL weather 💙💚

Sueze Morris Gary Haberfield Keith Bennett. SandiiLance OBrien Caron Sulley Christine Cahalane Michele Cranefield Jan Gilby Emma Lloyd Trish Fenton cranefield

09/08/2026

Thank you for coming, playing hard, laughing loud, bringing the vibes and a little bit of chaos, exactly how a Bingo Bash should be! 🥳

A MASSIVE THANK YOU 🙏 from Manawa Dragons to everyone who supported our event. Our fundraising is underway for our first NZDBA Dragon Boat Nationals competition in Twizel April 2027 🎉🎉 Bring it on 🐉🐲

09/08/2026

What started as an idea to celebrate turning ONE turned into a night we’ll be talking about for a very long time.

A massive thank you to all the amazing peeps who came along, or got behind us in other ways, you helped make our 1st Birthday Bingo Bash a huge success 💙💚

There was plenty of laughter
There was fierce competition
There were some questionable bingo strategies
There were amazing outfits
There were very cool prizes
And there may have been a little bit of banter 🎉🎉

To our supporters, number caller, set-up crew, clean-up crew, kitchen hands and all the behind the scenes stars, you know who you are, we see you 💙💚

One Heart. One Beat. One Whānau💙💚


Manawa Dragons Michele Cranefield Louise Stowell Jan Gilby SandiiLance OBrien Keith Bennett Kuini Sinclair McCloskey Sueze Morris Caron Sulley