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

MULTI CHARITY 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. 

Race 7, The Manchester Multi Charity Event 2022

The second event of the day was the Multi Charity Event for the benefit of the event's three Charity Partners:  The Manchester Foundation Trust Charity, Barnabus Manchester and The Christie and featured twenty teams in total.  Four of the teams were supporting The Christie, five teams were supporting Barnabus Manchester and eleven teams in this event were supporting the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity.  The MFT Charity had fifteen teams competing in total as a further four of their teams entered the Open Event.


Glorious weather graced the event as most teams experienced dragon boats and dragon boat racing for the very first time.

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. 

Race 13, The Manchester Multi Charity Event 2022

The first round of the Open Event saw Epidurance from Saint Mary’s Hospital, who were entering to help raise funds for the MFT Charity, take the round's fastest time of 1:15:31. 


In rounds two and three, now that the teams had some experience under their belt, it started to get more competitive.  In an exciting series of second and third round races, the fastest time of all the qualifying heats was snatched from Epidurance (whose third round time was their fastest with a 1:10:87) by Carey Clipper from Carey Group Ltd., who were entering to help homeless charity, Barnabus Manchester.   Carey Clipper by name and Carey Clipper by nature it seems as they 'clipped' the fastest time of the qualifying heats from Epidurance by just under two seconds with a time of 1:07:95.

Open Charity Event - Race 13

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

  1. Carey Clipper (from Carey Group Ltd., supporting Barnabus Manchester).
  2. Epidurance (Saint Mary’s Hospital, supporting the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity)
  3. NICU - Saint Mary's Hospital  (also from Saint Mary’s Hospital, supporting the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity)
  4. Usain Boat (a team made up of Barnabus staff, supporting Barnabus Manchester).
  5. Vaccine Vikings (The Vaccine Research Delivery Team (R&I), supporting the Manchester Foundation Trust Charity)
  6. TFGM/GMP 2 (a combined team from both Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester Police, supporting The Christie)


In a dramatic race that saw all six teams safely across the finish line, the winning team was  "Carey Clipper" came in with 1:16:21

The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - Multi Charity Event - Grand Final start

  • TFGM/GMP 2

    TFGM/GMP 2, the combined team  from Transport for Greater Manchester & Greater Manchester Police, 3rd placed winners

    Button

  • 2nd Placed Winners

    Epidurance from Saint Mary’s Hospital

    Button

  • 1st Placed Winners

    Carey Clipper from Cary Group Ltd, supporting Barnabus Manchester

    Button
  • Multi Charity Dragon Boat Champions 2022 - The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge

    Team Carey Clipper

    Multi Charity Dragon Boat Champions 2022 - The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge

    Button

  • 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

    The Manchester Charity Dragon Boat Challenge was 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  in 2022, 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 was a dramatic Chinese Lion Dance (as seen recently on TV’s Blue Peter) organised by THK Together and provided by members from the Manchester Chi Mo Lion Dance Team from the Manchester Chi Mo Martial Art Centre.