A UNIQUE Bradford sports team celebrated double gold at a national event over the weekend.

The Bradford Barracudas, competed at the British Dragonboat Racing Association's (BDA) National Championships across Saturday 22 and Sunday 23.

The Championships weekend, held in Nottingham this year, is the closing event for the BDA's regular season.

But other teams, such as charity crews or those who are not registered with the BDA, known as "Scratch crews", are invited to take part.

There are several race categories including, Open, Ladies, Mixed and Under 18.

The Barracudas competed as a Scratch crew and managed to bag gold in both the 200m Open Minor Final and a 500m race.

This double award comes despite most of the 30 or so members only joining the team this year after their interest was piqued at the most recent Bradford Dragonboat Festival.

The squad, predominantly made up of working mums, sacrificed their own training to help team training for those involved with the festival.

A spokesperson for Bradford Council said: "This actually meant that they could not start their own training until July of this year by which time, with the unusual hot weather we experienced, there was very little water to paddle in at Doe Park.

"If they get the full training in for next year, just imagine what they will be able to achieve."

John Galt, who founded the Bradford Dragonboat Festival and the Bradford Barracudas Club, was in Nottingham for the event.

He said it was a privilege to have been with them over the weekend.

Others, such as Kersten England and Bradford Council, posted on Twitter to give congratulations to the team.