A BRAVE team of cancer battlers is preparing to cross The Pond to paddle against an international field of dragon boaters.

Windermere Paddlers for Life is made up of women who have all survived cancer or are battling the disease.

Next month 33 of the team and their supporters will head to the Participatory Dragon Boat Festival, in Sarasota, Florida. The event, which will involve 100 teams from around the world, is organised by the International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission.

They are one of two UK teams which will be at the event, which runs from October 24 to October 26.

Team captain Lynn Shamal said paddling the dragon boat on the lake was a great way to keep fit and meet people.

“It is such an unusual sport and it’s very good exercise and that is what it is about, being in a team and just enjoying moving that boat forward,” said Ms Shamal, 60, of Tower Street, Ulverston.

Ms Shamal became involved with the team after overcoming her own battle with breast cancer between 2006 and 2007.

“It is not a support group, but if anybody wants to talk about anything about their cancer we’ve made such good friends that we can,” she said.

“For me it has helped me restore faith in my body as well, because you feel betrayed on some level by your body.”

Although the team were going to the event more for the experience than the competition they were still preparing to give it their best shot, she said.

“With dragon boating you are not keeping fit just for yourself, you are keeping fit for the whole team and that’s what motivates you,” she said.

The Windermere team recently took part in a dragon boat regatta on the lake and notched the fastest 200 metre time of the day of one minute and four seconds.

English Lakes Hotels, which helped host the event, entered the winning dragon boat team. Patron Sue Cogley described the inaugural regatta as ‘absolutely brilliant’, with a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of spectators cheering the teams along.

Anyone who wants to find out more about the team can go to www.paddlersforlife.co.uk