KALANG River Dragon Boat Club members are joining the Clean Up Australia campaign and doing their bit on Saturday 4 March by picking up rubbish in and around the waterways and the foreshores where they enjoy paddling each week.

“We are very lucky to paddle on such a beautiful, almost pristine river as the Kalang, but we can’t be complacent, we want to keep it that way,” Kalang River Dragon Boat Club member and Clean Up organiser Elizabeth Crane told News Of The Area.

“Rubbish ends up in and around our river too, particularly after the busy holiday period which has just been.”

Rivers are the blue arteries of our planet yet according to statistics every year, eleven billion kilograms of plastic pollution ends up in the ocean and a big part of this pollution flows into our oceans via rivers.

The Kalang paddling club members hope to at least make a little difference and stop some of that pollution before it reaches the nearby ocean.

“Plastic bait bags often blow out of boats and end up in the river and eventually kill our sea life.

“Also cigarette butts are the most littered item in the country and one of the most abundant forms of plastic waste in the world.

“If we can stop some of this getting into our waterways we’ve done our little bit to help the environment,” said Elizabeth.

“Our members are keen to be part of the Clean Up Australia campaign.

“The river is our playground and we want to keep it pollution free.

“It’s our way of giving back to nature and the Urunga community.”

On Saturday 4 March the paddling club members will be scanning the Kalang River, the connecting Back Creek and the surrounding shores where they paddle looking for rubbish to pick.

The river clean-up is timely for the paddling club as it comes just one week before the exciting Kalang River Classic, which will attract both local participants and visitors to the river and the area.

The Classic event is being hosted by the Kalang River Dragon Boat Club and sponsored by the C.ex and a number of local Urunga businesses.

It will be held on Sunday 12 March and is a 14.5 kilometre paddling race around Newry Island open to all non-motorised paddling craft such as dragon boats, outriggers, surf skis, kayaks and canoes with a one kilometre course for paddle boarders and a special category for juniors.

Entries are open now and right up until the day and entry forms can be found online: www.kalangriverclassic.com.au

If you like the sound of being on the water and being involved with an active, fun sporting club, you are invited to try your hand at dragon boat paddling as the club will be starting a ‘Learn to Paddle’ course for both men and women on Saturday 18 March.

For more information contact the Kalang River Dragon Boat Club visit their Facebook page.

Clean Up Australia Day 2023 is officially Sunday 5 March.

Participants who register with Clean Up Australia are also asked to report back on the amount and type of rubbish they collect which records statistics and generates data.

By Andrea FERRARI