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Dragon boat race in aid of Prostaid has returned to Leicester this year better than ever, after a few years hiatus! Us at NewWave Events partnered with Rob, the manager and trustee of Prostaid, to bring this event back to life on 2^nd June.

Prostaid care for local people living with prostate cancer. They are a voluntary team made up principally of prostate cancer sufferers, their family and friends and members of the University of Leicester Hospitals Urological team. It was a delight to support Prostaid at the Leicester dragon boat race.

“We provide five Support groups throughout our area, to give support to local men newly diagnosed and treated and to patients with advanced prostate cancer. We fund new innovative treatments, tests and equipment. We at PROSTaid are a local Charity formed in 2006 with a positive attitude to prostate cancer and our aim is still to continue to improve treatments and save lives!” – Find out more about the work Prostaid do here https://prostaid.co.uk/.

It was a beautifully sunny morning for the riverside festival in Leicester. Food stalls, drinks stations, gift stands were all setting up in the picturesque Castle Gardens, getting ready for the popular annual Leicester Riverside Festival to begin – this year with the addition of the exciting dragon boat race! Although spectators weren’t allowed access to the park yet, they were lining up getting their seats ready to watch a day of thrilling races, with the colourful boats and competitive spirits making for it to be a great day ahead!

This dragon boat race was a day of complete novice crews, making the competition even more exciting with all crews having to work out their technique and tactics as the racing happened! After round 1 it was Sea Ton United leading the way with a time of 60.47 seconds. We usually say that a time around 60 seconds is a great time, so Sea Ton United were in for a winner here with that as their first time of the day! Round 2 of the dragon boat race came and went with some major improvements with five out of the nine teams now hitting sub-60 times!! Weafer Warriors came from no-where and stole the top spot away from Sea Ton United with a whopping round 2 time of 53.46 seconds. With music and commentary booming around the city, more and more crowds formed along the bridge and the length of the river to watch the excitement and cheer the participants on.

After all teams had completed their second race of the day, all teams gathered around the NewWave Events gazebo for the results to find out who had made it into the semi-finals of today’s dragon boat race. The four teams advancing through to the semi-finals were Highfield Rangers, Sea Ton United, Weafer Warriors and Hawaii Wine-hoes (the only completely female crew of the day!). Whereas the way to get through to the semi-finals was by having the fastest times of the day, the only way to get through to the final was to win the semi-final. With only 2 teams advancing through to the final, the only way in was to win! The first two semi-finalists got kitted out in the boat marshalling area and headed down to the pontoons. It was Weafer Warriors vs Hawaii Wine-hoes battling it out in semi-final 1 with Sea Ton United and Highfield Rangers in semi-final 2. It was a clear win from Weafer Warriors in semi-final 1, however a photo finish in semi-final 2! Tensions were high as the results and times were announced. It was Highfield Rangers that just pipped it at the post, making their way into the grand final against Weafer Warriors to finish off the day!

Last race of today’s dragon boat race and our helms were raring to go for this grand final, teams loaded the boats and made their way up to the start line. Highfield Rangers against Weafer Warriors. Another photo finish!!! There was less than a second in it… but Highfield Rangers just scraped the win!! Shrieks of joy, sprays of bubbly and lots of clapping and cheering finished off what was an outstanding day of paddling, sunshine and fundraising.

TO ENTER VISIT: https://dragonboatevents.co.uk/construction-industry-dragon-boat-challenge/

This annual event is always set to be an exciting event, showcasing fierce competition and camaraderie among construction companies in and around London. With a new venue for the 24^th year, we were excited to introduce this year’s dragon boat race to Surrey Docks – with its scenic waterfront it provides the perfect backdrop for an exciting dragon boat race day.

It was a gorgeous morning over London as the sun rose on Thursday 23^rd May. The NewWave events team had arrived and were setting up ready and raring to go! With eight 30ft boats involved in the dragon boat race, it was one of our biggest and most popular dragon boat races of the season. We had an incredible 39 teams enter from the construction industry all coming together to support CRASH charity.

‘CRASH unites the construction industry by channelling the professional expertise, construction products and donations of our Corporate Patrons and supporters to: Transform hostels, day centres, night shelters and move-on accommodation for homeless people across the UK. Create caring environments where children and adults who need end of life care in a hospice can spend precious time together with their families and deliver meaningful social impact between companies and charities to create a more caring society and deliver long-lasting benefits in communities across the UK.’ – https://www.crash.org.uk/

1pm approached and a few butterflies of nerves and excitement as the dragon boat race began! The spectator area was full to the brim, the hustle and bustle of teams getting themselves ready for the day ahead. We had the club room designated for NewWave Events race control area as well as the base for CRASH Charity with the ever-popular Batak competition running alongside all the other excitement of the day. (The NewWave Events team obviously had to make sure the Batak was fit for purpose before the day with an inter-office Batak competition, won by a country mile by Aiden, our logistics and events manager!)

A full day ahead with 20 heats, 3 semi-finals and one grand-final. In Deep Ship, HQR Vikings, ISG Agility Sea Dragons and Parkaray were the first teams up in the dragon boat race ready to compete in Heat number 1. HQR Vikings took a storming lead with a time of 68.14 seconds – no other team in heat 1 managing to cross that sub-70 mark. In fact, only one other team could beat their time in the whole of round 1! Opera were standing in first place after round 1 with HQR Vikings a close second. These were the teams to beat after the first 10 heats, but this was the construction industry – anything could happen!

The teams only had one more round to paddle their quickest times in order to advance through to the semi-finals. A BBQ pit stop for all teams to load up on energy as the second round of the boat race began. The burgers and beverages must have helped with 18 out of the 39 teams finishing round 2 hitting a sub-70 time! The race to the semi-finals was on.

After a battle in the semi-finals, the teams advancing through to the grand-final were Boaty McBainsface, Opera, The Horizon Dragons, and HQR Vikings.

Deep breaths as the final teams lined up on the start line for the Constructions Industry Dragon Boat Challenge. Boaty McBainsface took an early lead, pulling slightly ahead of all other teams, their paddling technique was on point. The other three teams were hot on their tails though. Spectators really got into it, screaming for their favourite team! All teams were neck and neck coming up to the half way mark but in the last 50m Boaty McBainsface surged forward, there was no stopping them. They crossed the finish line with so much power and energy, winning the construction industry challenge but then, disaster!! They over celebrated and capsized!!! Boaty McBainsface emerged back on to dry land a little soggy but with huge smiles on their faces after their little celebratory swim!  

What a day! The weather was spot on, teams were sportsmanlike and supportive and an incredible amount of money was raised for a brilliant cause.

Trisha Pickersgill, Chief Executive at CRASH, said: “I was delighted to attend my first Construction Industry Dragon Boat Challenge in aid of CRASH. Thank you to our media partner Building Magazine, event organisers NewWave Events and the wonderful teams from across the construction industry who joined us. The fundraising efforts were incredible and will go on to leave a lasting impact in our communities when combined with the best of the industry’s professional expertise and construction product. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event in what will be the 25th, Construction Industry Dragon Boat Challenge.” – https://thejoinerynetwork.co.uk/2024/06/10/dragon-boat-challenge-sees-27k-raised-for-crash/

June saw the annual return of the Lincoln Dragon Boat Race! This year’s event organised by Ringrose Law in aid of LIVES was a booming success with 16 teams entering.

Bayford Waterfront was littered with food stands, drinks stalls, passers-by, spectators and of course the teams participating in the exhilarating dragon boat race! The day began and teams came down to the boat marshalling area, got kitted out with their buoyancy aids, grabbed their paddles and spent their last few moments on dry land attempting to think of some last minute tactics before their first dragon boat race of the day.

First up in the dragon boat race were Siemens Energy vs Shock n Oars vs Ringrose Rowers ready to try and show the crowds just how it’s done for the first heat of the day. Ringrose Rowers pulled through winning that first heat with a time of 69.39 seconds. With Ringrose Law sponsoring that first heat, that was a brilliant win from them!

Round 1 continued into the early afternoon when the heavens started to open and rain came pouring down!!! Believe us however, it did not stop the fun, competitiveness and camaraderie of the teams and the helms involved in the dragon boat race! Hoods were up and game faces were on as everyone paddled through the rain into an exciting Round 2.

As Round 2 started, the current leaders of the day were the Thomson Tornados with a first race time of 64.38 seconds. Thomson Tornados were the team to beat but the question was who was going to stay strong through the great British weather to move up the leaderboard…

Round 2 timings soared way above the timings in Round 1! 11 out of the 16 teams secured sub-70 second times in Round 2 with Thomson Tornados being knocked off that top stop and Stroke Masters storming ahead with a time of 64.07 seconds – the quickest time of the day so far.

“The atmosphere was electric as participants left no paddle stroke unturned in their quest for victory” says Alex Bennett the event organiser from Ringrose Law – https://www.ringroselaw.co.uk/2024/06/18/thrilling-success-at-lincoln-dragon-boat-festival-this-weekend/

An incredible photo finish from both semi-final races! Timings had to be reviewed in the finish tent before any results were announced, building the excitement and tension for all involved! Lucy, the event manager, built suspense on the microphone before finally revealing the top 3 crews advancing through to the grand final as Gelder Load of this, Thomson Tornados and Shock n Oars.

After more thrilling yet soggy races, the teams advancing through to the semi-finals, achieving the highest total times of the day were Gelder Load of this, Thomson Tornados, Shock n Oars, Dragon Boat Z, Brown & Co and Stroke Masters. It was all to play for in these two semi-finals.

With lots of chanting and banter between the teams leading up to the start line for the final time in the dragon boat race, everyone’s spirits were high but focus was strong! All teams shot off the start line and tried their best to stay in paddling time with each other, helms worked hard on keeping their race lines poker straight and all teams crossed the finish line within just over a second of each other. The finish judge reviewed the times and finish line video to reveal the Lincoln Dragon Boat Race Champions as….GELDER LOAD OF THIS! Fantastic win!

“Given the poor weather all day and the conditions the team had to endure I was overwhelmed they stayed so positive and focused.” said Steve Gelder, CEO of Gelder Group. “Participating in this event has not only been a fantastic team-building experience but also an opportunity to support worthy local Charity LIVES.” – https://gelder.co.uk/2024/06/19/gelder-group-vikings-are-dragon-boat-race-winners-2024/

The Milton Keynes Dragon Boat Festival is one of the biggest charity events in the area and raises tens of thousands of pounds for local charities each and every year.