The 2007 Chester Charity Dragon Boat Festival

Despite the country experiencing one of the wettest Junes for many years, the weather on Sunday 17th was bright ... and sunny!

With over 300 competitors all champing at the bit and rearing to go, we just knew it was going to be a great day for everyone.

Although the dragon boat are restricted to sixteen paddlers at a time, most teams had around twenty people in them. The teams came from all around the region to compete in what is now one of the country’s most exhilarating water sports events - and all in the name of charity.

Raced over a shortish distance of 250 metres, each team is given a minimum of three timed races during the day which gives the teams ample time to work with the instructors and use dragon boating as a way to develop team building and team trainings.

The day finished with two amazing final races, where just inches sepatated all four boats in each final.

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Safety first!

Dragon Boat Instructor Danny Windsor handing out safety wrist bands to the HMS Albion Sailors.

The wrist bands signify that the team members have attended the team briefing and are now safe to go in the boats.

The Dragon Boat Events team are very strict on safety and no one is allowed into the dragon boats without their wrist band.

With a total of eleven different charities / schools being supported in this year's festival, every team gets into the day in different ways. Some often come in fancy dress whilst other indulge in a spot of face painting!

Where possible, we like to build into the program gave an extra dimension to the day. Challenge Races are for any company or organisation that has two or more teams entering so that we can make the day even more interesting by incorporating an inter-company competition as well!

Challenge Race 1 was between the River Rats and the River Rat@touillies teams below organised by Lisa Jones, Both teams were entering to Support the Countess of Chester Hospital's Human Milk Bank Appeal.

Challenge Race 2 was between the three teams from HMS Albion who were supporting Claire House Children’s Hospice.

More about these races can be found on the page.

'challenge' races'