Corporate dragon boat racing events
in the South of England
Want to put on a corporate day your team still talks about the following Monday?
NewWave Events runs proper racing days in the South of England. Real competition, proper kit, plenty of noise around the water. Nothing a conference room can do.
Dragon boat racing is one of those rare things that works for everyone. Fitness doesn’t matter. Experience doesn’t matter. Give it twenty minutes and you’ve got accounts shouting at sales to paddle harder, and the MD arguing with the drummer about stroke rate. It’s a leveller, and that’s probably why it works so well as a team day.
Venue sorted, whatever your starting point
Got a venue already? We’ll deal with them for you. Site visits, risk assessments, water access, parking, anything else they want signed off, we handle it.
Not picked one? We find venues for free. We work with places across the region and know which suit what size of event, which have half-decent parking, and which need a bit of extra planning to pull off.
Bristol Harbour is the pick for anything urban. Colourful waterfront, crowds gather on their own, atmosphere is there before you’ve kitted up. Dorney Lake is the 2012 Olympic rowing course, six lanes of flat water and a proper finish-line setup.
Plenty of other options in between depending on what you’re after, and we know what each one needs to run well.
What race day looks like
Dragon boat racing is pretty much what it sounds like. 30-foot boats, two paddlers abreast, dragon head at the bow, loud PA, busy waterside. Each boat takes 16 paddlers, a drummer up front, and one of our helms steering at the back, so teams of around 20 are the sweet spot. If your numbers don’t divide cleanly, we mix and match.
The day opens with a safety briefing for everyone, then capsize training at the water’s edge with our helms and marshals. Nobody gets in a boat until both are done.
Then it’s racing. Heats, semis, grand final, regatta style, so every team gets multiple runs rather than one and done. Between heats our helms coach the crews on the water, and you’ll see teams sharpen up noticeably by the afternoon. Our start judge holds each race under orders. Every finish is timed to the millisecond, with video for the tight ones. Our compere keeps things moving all day, reading out times, winding up the rivalries, and making sure nobody on the bank is just stood there on their phone.
The day closes with a podium presentation, trophies, and a bottle of bubbles for the winners. Most people hang around afterwards because the mood carries, which is why the evening add-on tends to get booked.
Flexible packages for every team size
Flexible packages for every team size
We run events for groups of 22 up to 500+. A smaller day could be three or four teams in a tight round-robin, done by lunch. Larger events run full regatta format with group stages, knockouts, and a proper final, and we’ve delivered 500-person days with 25+ teams on the water. Whichever end you’re on, the format is built so everyone races more than once, nobody’s sat around waiting for hours, and the final actually matters. If your numbers fall somewhere awkward, we’ll tell you what works best rather than push you into a format that doesn’t fit.
Make more of your event
Add-ons to build the day out:
- Post-race BBQ or unlimited drinks, served riverside so nobody’s moving venues
- Catering arranged for you, from buffet to sit-down
- Evening extensions with a three course dinner, DJ, and disco, on-site or at a nearby venue we know
- Participant medals and trophies with custom engraving
- Branded boat logos so your company colours show up in every photo
- Inflatable dragon arch for photos and branding, sits well over the finish line
- QR code live results, so times land on everyone’s phones as races finish
Most clients bolt on two or three. The combination that gets booked most is branded boats, medals, and an evening extension. That’s what turns the day from a lunchtime-to-4pm activity into a full company event.
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