Shirleen Ho
Founder & Campaign Coordinator
Shirleen has been involved in dragon boating from mid 2010. Since then she's built up extensive experience in representative racing in numerous NSW and VIC State campaigns, Australian National Team (The Auroras) campaigns and as a guest crew member with various other teams abroad. She has also obtained a number of qualifications within the sport such as L2 Coaching and L5 Steersperson/Sweep accreditations, having coached NSW region squads, and VIC Snr A State team. Her contributions to the sport was recognised when she was announced NSW Athlete of the Year in 2020. Her passion to improve the sport in Australia flowed in her involvement in the AusDBF Athletes Commission from 2020-2022. Down Under Dogs (DUDs) is where Shirleen brings together her loves of dragon boat racing, travel and food.
Kelly Kortlepel (KK)
Strategy & Sponsorships
An accomplished paddler who has represented NSW more times than she can remember. In addition to this, KK has also represented Australia, being part of the Australian National Team (The Auroras) for the 2023 World Championships. KK is an aspiring steersperson and drummer. On top of that, she is a L1 qualified coach, being in the NSW State Premier squad coaching team. The Down Under Dogs is KK's vehicle for satisfying her "destination racing" cravings. She is the proud mum to two Border Collies who occasionally make a cameo appearance at NSW regattas as our unofficial mascots. KK's strength in strategic planning and networking has been instrumental to the success of our campaigns and our growing popularity amongst the dragon boating community in Australia.
Eric Cham
Photography & Social Media
Eric's passion for photography, videography, gadgets, travel and high performance dragon boat racing brings a unique skillset to the Down Under Dogs team. Having also been involved in representative racing in the Australian National Team (The Auroras), the VIC State Team as a paddler, as well as the state Premier squad coaching team, he is no stranger to the nitty gritty of competitive dragon boating. Eric is currently working on becoming a fully qualified steersperson and formalising his L1 coaching accreditation.
Capturing the highs and memorable moments of a campaign to look back on is his specialty.
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