International Blood Cancer Awareness Month has got off to a great start for Cure Leukaemia, thanks to a donation of £64,966 from fundraisers at Brindleyplace.

The staggering amount of money was raised during Brindleyplace’s annual Dragonboat Festival which saw teams made up of local businesses from across Birmingham, battle it out against each other along the Birmingham and Worcester canal in traditional 40ft long Chinese dragonboats, all the way from Pitcher and Piano to the Barclaycard Arena.

The money raised at the event will go to the Birmingham-based blood cancer charity, Cure Leukaemia – Brindleyplace’s selected charity partner – to fund specialist research nurses at the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and across the Midlands. Founded in 2003, by Professor Charlie Craddock, Cure Leukaemia helps to bring pioneering drug and transplant treatments to blood cancer patients who have exhausted standard treatment options. Without the expert research nurses to ensure patients are constantly monitored and cared for; these trials would not run and patients would miss the opportunity to access potentially life-saving therapies.

James McLaughlin, Chief Executive at Cure Leukaemia, said: “We are immensely grateful to everyone who took part in this fantastic day. The event was great fun and the funds raised will make a real difference to people battling this terrible disease. With the relationship Cure Leukaemia has with pharmaceutical companies the money raised can be leveraged to give patients access to £600,000 in potentially life-saving drugs. Everyone who took part in the Dragonboat Festival has helped save lives.”

This year, the winner of the Dragonboat race was UHY Accountants and the prize for the Best Fancy Dress went to Network Rail for the team’s Harry Potter costumes. Other teams included KPMG dressed as pirates, Deutsche Bank dressed as minions and Pertemps dressed as cricketers. Broadcaster Adrian Chiles also took part in this year’s Dragonboat Festival dressed as Scooby Doo, in the Cure Leukaemia team after providing words of encouragement to all the teams which took part.

Alex Perrins, marketing executive at Brindleyplace, said: “We are overwhelmed at the generosity shown by those people that took part, their friends and families and the general public in Birmingham. Since the Dragonboat Festival started 16 years ago, Brindleyplace has raised an impressive £420,000 for local charities, including Cure Leukaemia, Help Harry Help Others and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”

Paul Anderson, Head of Deutsche Bank Birmingham, which sponsored the Dragonboat Festival for the fifth year running, said: “As one of the city’s most established and fun annual corporate fundraising events, the Dragonboat Festival is always a highlight on our calendar. It was a fantastic day and it’s great to see so much money raised for a charity that makes a real difference to the lives of local people. We’d like to say big thank you to everyone who took part and made the day a success.”

Businesses and organisations which took part in this year’s Dragonboat race included: Matalan, Deutsche Bank, Hines, Bilfinger GVA, Pertemps, OGL, KPMG, UHY Accountants, Cure Leukaemia, Elonex Outdoor Media, Action Coach, Barclays, Network Rail, Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee and Bilfinger Europe.