To celebrate Chinese New Year, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices have launched the fourth East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival. One of the largest corporate team events in the region, the 2009 Festival takes place on Sunday 10th May in Nicholas Everitt Park, Oulton Broad in Lowestoft with more than 50 crews expected to battle it out over the 200m race course watched by several thousand spectators.

Carl Brooks, Corporate Fundraiser at East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), said: “We are very excited to be the nominated charity of the East Anglian Dragon Boat Festival again this year. Last year we raised just over £30,000 at this event and we hope to break that record in 2009! The money raised at the Festival will go towards one-to-one nursing care and support that is so vital to local children and their families. Relying as we do on voluntary public support for 75% of our funding, we are delighted to be the official charity for the Dragon Boat Festival.”

Dragon boat racing has an ancient Chinese history dating back 2,000 years and according to the Chinese calendar, 2009 is the year of the Ox. The Ox is thought to signify prosperity through fortitude and hard work, the perfect attributes for a dragon boat crew team leader! Exciting, colourful and great fun, no previous experience is required to take part, just plenty of team spirit! The dragon boats and racing equipment are provided and each crew is guaranteed a minimum of three races. The Festival offers a full day of entertainment on land and water and is supported by Waveney District Council, Suffolk County Council Passenger Transport and The Beach who will be cheering on the teams at this year’s event. China Diner, based on the high street in Lowestoft, have kindly donated a prize of a special Chinese buffet lunch for the team raising the most money for EACH.

Carol Lester, director of Gable Events comments; “The Festival is a great chance for companies and organisations to try something completely different, promote themselves to a large local audience, network with local companies and potential clients and raise money for EACH. It is also a fantastic team building opportunity – what better way to really get to know your colleagues and your competitors! The Festival was a sell-out last year and we expect it to be as popular as ever this time around so we recommend teams get their entries in early to guarantee a place”.

For further information and an entry form please visit