Brindleyplace Dragonboat Race makes a splash

Amount raised reaches new milestone.

Now in its 17th year, the Brindleyplace Dragonboat Race made another big splash when it returned to the Birmingham and Worcester canal last weekend in an attempt to raise a record-breaking £70,000 for its chosen charity, Cure Leukaemia.

Over 200 of the city’s professionals took to the water in Chinese longboats in fancy dress, including teams from headline sponsor, Deutsche Bank as well as Matalan, Interserve, Barclays, Vodafone, Hines, CAU, Bilfinger GVA, Click Travel, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Chinatown Lions, Carillion, The Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee and Cure Leukaemia.

The Vodafone Vikings were announced as the Dragonboat Race winners following consistently fast race times and a speedy five second win over The Matalan 300 in the finale. Having raised over £15,000 for Cure Leukaemia so far, as well as coming in second place, Matalan also took home the ‘addle of Pity after a second Matalan team Matalan Bewitched finished last overall.

The Click Travel team, Click’s Comic Book Escapade, made a splash when they capsized into the canal; the second year in a row that a team has ended up in the water. However, that didn’t stop the other teams from raising their paddling game throughout the afternoon, with improved times and very close races in the semi-finals.

Sam Lawrence, Director of Property Management at Brindleyplace, said: “The Brindleyplace Dragonboat Race 2016 was a huge success, with people turning up in their thousands to cheer on the teams and enjoy the market, games, shows and family festival atmosphere. We were even lucky enough to get some sunshine! All of the businesses involved have been hard at work fundraising for Cure Leukaemia and, combined with the support of the public, we’re hoping to raise a record amount this year.”

The event raised £65,000 for Cure Leukaemia in 2015 and, with donations still flooding in, Brindleyplace is hoping to raise a record £70,000 this year, a figure which could leverage £700,000 in potentially life-saving treatments for blood cancer patients in the Midlands thanks to its Power of 10 principle. This would take the total raised for charity over the lifetime of the annual Brindleyplace event to over £500,000.