Fundraising Auctions Compete in the Dragon Boat Festival 2017

On Saturday 9^th September we took part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival at Bewl Water.

With over 1000 people from local businesses, schools & sports clubs competing it was sure to be a busy but enjoyable day!The event is run by leading events company Dragon Boat Events who provide the boats, helms, safety equipment, buoyancy aids, rescue boats and some brilliant advice and tips on the rowing technique which we found very useful!

We entered a team of 16 rowers with our drummer Liam who did an amazing job and stepped in last minute, racing in a dragon boat over a 250 metre course in order to raise money for a very worthy local cause, Rockinghorse Children’s Charity. We also decided to take part in the fancy dress competition, choosing the hit film “Dodgeball” as our theme. Half of our team went as the Purple Cobras and the other half were the Average Joe’s,  we even had a little game of dodgeball to get us warmed up for the races!

Every team competed in three heats with the fastest 12 teams being entered into the final. We performed well in our heats, clocking the 10^th fastest time of the day with a time of 1 minute 18 seconds in our second race. In the final we gave it our best shot despite being rather tired and wet from a sudden change in the weather, managing to finish in 8^th place, which out of an initial 60 teams isn’t too bad.

We are already looking forward to next year!