The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - Sunday 8th May 2022 

OPEN EVENT REPORT


History was made on Sunday 8th May where for the first time ever in the UK, a day comprising an Open Charity Event in the morning and a closed afternoon Multi Charity Event, involving a total of thirty five teams across both events took place.   

For each event, the teams competed over three qualifying heats for the chance to go through to a 6-boat Grand Final, where the winner of each Grand Final would be declared: Dragon Boat Champions of the event. 

The first event of the day was the Open Event Starting  at 10:00am.  Lasting just over three hours, the event featured fifteen teams from around the region (including one that had travelled all the way over from Sheffield).  The Open Event format allows teams from either your company or your community organisation to enter and raise funds for your nominated registered charity (hence, 'open'). Equally, registered charities can promote the event to their supporters and get teams entering to raise funds for them.

Dragon Boat racing is all about a team of up to 17 people (sixteen paddlers and a drummer), racing down a 200 meter course as fast as possible.  It sounds simple!  The reality is that it requires both team work and timing for a good time to happen.  Clashing your paddles with another team member or getting out of time could affect the whole team's time, which is where the team drummer coms in.  Sitting on a seat at the front of the dragon boat, their job is to beat the big drum in time with the front pair to help the rest of the team to stay in time.  Suitable for both novice and experienced teams alike, NO previous experience is necessary as all training and instruction is given on the day.  (For more details on what is involved, click on What each event entails below).

The first round in the Open Event saw THK Dragon Kings take the round's fastest time with 1:16:25. 


In rounds two and three, now that the teams had some experience under their belt, it started to get more competitive as teams gathered round the event scoreboard before their next race to see who to beat!  In an exciting series of second and third round races, the fastest time of the qualifying heats was snatched from THK Dragon Kings by Dragon Our Tails with a time of 1:10:57 just two hundredths of a second faster than THK Dragon Kings whose fastest time (also from their second race) was 1:10:59.

Open Charity Event - Race 13

The six teams competing in the Grand Final were (in lane order):

  1. Dragon Our Tails from Peninsula, who were supporting the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity
  2. THK Dragon Kings from THK Together CIC, who were supporting the Ukraine DEC
  3. Manchester Wai Yin Dragon from Your Housing Group, who were supporting the Wai Yin Society
  4. Voicescape from Voicescape Ltd. who were supporting Stroke Association
  5. DF Capital from DF Capital, who were supporting Wood Street Mission,
  6. J Mills from J Mills, who were supporting Brainwave


In a dramatic race that saw all six teams across the finish line, the winning team "THK Dragon Kings" came in with a NEW fastest time of the day of 1:09:08.

The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - Open Charity Event - Grand Final finish
The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - Open Charity Event - Grand Final finish
THK Dragon Kings - DRAGON BOAT CHAMPIONS - The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - Open Charity Event 2022

  • Open Charity Event

    The Open Charity Event is 'open' to any team (experienced or novice), whether from a company, a community group, family & friends or a charity entering its own team of supporters.  Teams will enter via the online team registration link on the event's webpage and select one of two entry options; Charity Entry Route or Corporate Entry Route.


    Charity Entry Route: 

    Team entry is £500.00 per team for a team of between 11 - 17 competitors (the odd number being the team drummer whose job it is to keep their team all paddling in time).

    Teams entering via the Charity Entry Route are able to nominate and fund raise for their chosen registered charity.  Teams are required to set up an online fundraising page and challenged to raise a minimum £1,000 for their charity.



    Corporate Entry Route:  

    Teams entering via the Corporate Entry Route do not have to nominate or fund raise for their charity as a proportion of the higher entry costs gets shared as a donation between the festival's four partner charities.

    Teams entering via this route are still able to separately fundraise for their own charity, should they want to.

  • Multi Charity Event

    Multi Charity Events are closed events for the benefit of the event's Partner Charities only.  As each Partner Charity has an agreed number of places, entries into a Multi Charity Event can only be done via the Partner Charity's fund raising team, who will be able to confirm remaining availability with you.  


    On each event's webpage is a link to an online team Corporate Entry Enquiry form, where you will also be asked which of the event's Partner Charities you wish to support? 


    Once you have completed the form for your chosen event, the form will be sent to that charity's fund raising team who will be able to confirm remaining availability and to discuss with you, details of an entry package that also includes a donation to their charity. 

  • What each event entails

    Teams race in genuine Chinese dragon boats, especially imported from China and provided by the UK's leading professional dragon boat event's company "Race The Dragon Ltd."  Along with all the boats, 'Race The Dragon' will also supply paddles and buoyancy aids for all competitors whilst on the water and also, a helms person who will steer your team's boat (teams are NOT expected to steer their own boat).


    A dragon boat team is made up of between eleven to seventeen team members (the odd number being the team drummer, whose job it is to beat the big drum so that the team can all paddle in time and together). ​ 

    Before each team's first race, everyone will be given a full safety briefing and also instruction on the technique used. Over the course of the event, teams will compete in three timed qualifying heats, where your single fastest time only will count for Grand Final qualification. (So one or two disasters no problem, as long as out of your three heats, you get at least one good time).


    Team work is vital if a fast time is going to be achieved and for this reason, the instructors will also give further 'on the water' training to help with technique. Over the distance we race (200 meters), fitness is not a key factor - technique however is because it's a team sprint where team work and timing is everything.  


    What you will be aiming to achieve is an opportunity to compete in the last race of the event ... the Grand Final. This will be a race where all the dragon boats that can be safely raced together will race one last time and first across the finish line will be declared: Dragon Boat Champions of the event


    The event will finish with our award ceremony where team trophies will be awarded to the Captain's of the top three teams and Winner's Medals to each member of the winning team.  

  • Event information

    Excitement is rapidly growing as we get nearer to the big day on Sunday 8th May.  


    The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge is the first of our events to use the new mini-event format, the first of our events to be held at the Sale Water Park and is already the largest charity dragon boat event ever seen in the Manchester area.  


    Split into two separate charity fund raising events, the morning event (09:30am – 1:00pm) is an Open Charity Event and is 'open' to any team whether experienced or novice to compete, whilst the afternoon event is a separate Multi Charity Event just for the benefit of our three partner charities; MFT Charity, comprising ten NHS hospitals in the Greater Manchester area, Barnabus, who do such amazing work helping the homeless in Manchester and The Christie, Europe’s largest single site cancer centre as well as the first UK centre to be accredited as a comprehensive cancer centre.


    Teams can enter the Open Event via the link below with teams usually coming from either a company, a community group, family & friends or a charity entering its own team of supporters.  Most teams will be between 11 - 17 competitors (the odd number being the team drummer whose job it is to keep their team all paddling in time).  Teams are able to nominate and fundraise for their chosen registered charity, are required to set up an online fundraising page and challenged to raise a minimum £1,000 for their charity.


    There is also a corporate entry route into the Open Event for teams wanting to help sponsor the event, where a proportion of each team entry fee gets distributed between the four partner charities in the afternoon Multi Charity event.


    In between the two events will be a dramatic Chinese Lion Dance (as seen recently on TV’s Blue Peter) organised by THK Together and provided by members from the Manchester Martial Art Centre.