POP-UP GALLERY.

Just click the picture to see it better.

Last year's festival was held on Sunday 17th June on Chester's River Dee at (next to the Chester Sailing Club) and sixteen teams entered Over 500 people crowded the banks of the river on a glorious day that saw spectacular racing all day.

Words cannot describe just how much fun a dragon boating day is! You have paddles splashing, drums beating and crowds of people cheering and screaming from the banks as the dragon boats race to the line ... and the great thing about dragon boating is, anyone from 12 years old to retired can do it!  This is with out doubt one of those ‘must try’ events that is far too much fun to simply watch!

About the day.

The day started at around 10am when the first teams were called up to be briefed. For safety reasons, all team members had to attend and once the briefing was over, each team member was issued with a coloured wrist band to prove they had been briefed, which they then had to show to the helm each time they got into the boat.

Racing started just after 10am with two in the early afternoon. The day finished with two amazing Final races, a

  (for the teams ranked 5 - 8 on the day) and a for the top four teams. These were scheduled for around 3:30pm ... and that's exactly when they were! Afterwards was the prize giving ceremony.

Each team is given a guaranteed three timed races in the Chester Festival , with the team's single best time over the three races then being used for qualification into the Grand Final. So even if you have a couple of bad races, a single good time could still see you go through.

Round one is always a bit exciting (like anything new) but once you have discovered after setting off that the boat floats and despite your worst fears, you are still alive ... you can relax and start to enjoy the experience. By round two, you will be itching for another go and by round three, racing will be very competitive! So it proved to be with some of the closest races ever seen in dragon boating.

For safety (and stability) reasons, the Dragon boats in Chester were limited to a maximum eighteen people whilst racing. Seventeen of these (eight pairs of paddlers and a drummer) are made up of the team members, whilst the eighteenth person is a qualified helm with Safety boats were on standby in the rare event of a capsize, but thankfully, were not needed this year.

Sandy Lane

challenge races

Minor Final

Major Final

The organisers of the Dragon Boat Festival would like to recognise and thank Chester City Council for making the site at Sandy Lane available for the day.