Formed in 2002 as a charity crew called "Chinese Professionals", it was later rebranded as "Dragonflies". Later, in 2006, they became a member of the BDA (British Dragon Boat Racing Association), as a sister team to Thames Dragons, leading to their second rebranding as the "Thames Raging Dragons". In 2008, the "Thames Raging Dragons" gained promotion to the Premier League, and the following year saw them break away from Thames Dragons under the sponsorship of Sun Lik Beer. In 2010, the Raging Dragons took a "notable second place in the premier 200m league," [1] surpassing former sister team Thames Dragons to become the highest placed team in London.
The club currently competes in the Premier and Standard League of the BDA, with Open, Mixed, and Ladies crews.
The team has a number of members who currently paddle for the Great Britain national Dragon Boat team, the most notable of which are Victor Martinez (ex-footballer) and Richard Wang. Celebrity Gok Wan has paddled with Raging Dragons and the team featured in episode 4 of his Gok Cooks Chinese TV show on Channel 4.[2] In 2012, the Raging Dragons were selected to paddle in the man-powered section of the flotilla in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.[3] In 2012, the Raging Dragons supported the formation of Wave Walkers, London's first dragon boat team of cancer survivors.[citation needed]
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