East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival
Photo courtesy Gable Events picture library

The eagerly anticipated East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival is a great opportunity for local companies, organisations and clubs to get teams together and do battle on the waters of Oulton Broad, Lowestoft. Although there can only be one winner in the dragon boat races taking place on Saturday 11th August, a number of local and national charities will also be winners this year.

New for 2018, the Dragon Boat Festival, sponsored by Warner Leisure Hotels, is an open charity event with entrants invited to raise money for the charity of their choosing. Teams opting for the popular gold and silver entry packages, which include a charity donation as well as marketing benefits, can also nominate their favourite charity to benefit from their donations.

Amongst the charities set to benefit from funds raised by the crews entered so far are Nelson’s Journey, QEH King’s Lynn Breast Care Unit, EACH Nook Appeal, The Big C, Princes Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support with many more great causes expected to be nominated before entries close on 1st August.

ABP’s two teams will be made up of members of staff from the Ports of Lowestoft, Kings Lynn and Ipswich representing varied departments across the company. ABP has taken part in the past two Dragon Boat Festivals and crew captain, Lucia Firman comments, “The dragon boat race is a great way to get people from the various different ABP ports together, have fun and raise money for charity at the same time. ABP supports several charities around the UK and is active in participation in fundraising events. The dragon boat festival is a great opportunity to meet and catch up with people not seen in a normal working day and every year more people want to get involved”.

The ‘Muskerteers’ team representing Musker McIntyre will be supporting local charity Nelson’s Journey. The local independent estate agent has a branch network of seven offices across Norfolk and Suffolk and the charity is close to the heart of Joanna McIntyre who set up the company 11 years ago, “This is an important local charity which over the past 20 years has helped thousands of local children following the death of an important person in their lives. We would like to try and raise £1,000 from our participation on the day”.

Jarrolds Department Store, GCB Recruitment, Tippers ‘R’ Us, Grosvenor Casino, Lovewell Blake, Anglian Demolition and Warner Leisure’s Gunton Hall and Corton Coastal Resorts are all looking forward to a great day of team building as well as fundraising and there is plenty of time to join them on the start line this August. 

To take part in the dragon boat racing, no previous experience is required, just plenty of team spirit and enthusiasm! Under the expert guidance of a qualified helm provided by Festival organisers Gable Events, your crew of up to 11 people will soon be paddling in time and bonding together as you race towards the finish line over the 200m race course. Each team gets three attempts to improve their race times with everyone having an equal chance of reaching the semi-finals. Last year, three out of the five top-placed teams were first-time entrants into the Festival! Trophies and medals are awarded to the top three crews, top mixed crew, top fundraisers and the ‘best dressed’.

For further information and an entry form please visit: 

www.dragonboatfestivals.co.uk/eastanglia or call Gable Events on 01780 470718. For information about Festival sponsor, Warner Leisure Hotels, visit www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk or call 01442 863245. 

Warner Leisure is the proud sponsor of the 2018 East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival and they are working together with partner charity, Macmillan Cancer Support to fund a range of help and advice for people affected by cancer.