Dragon Boat Racing

It was all very exciting down at the Lowry today as there was a big dragon boat festival on. There were twenty five teams competing with six dragon boats in use. There was an opening ceremony with speeches, dragon dancing and singing then the first heat started.

Jude joined me for a while and we ended up betting on races with a lovely Chinese couple. They should have set up tic tac men all round the dock, it would have added to the excitement if we could have put bets on the races. There were stalls selling Chinese food and we had some chicken and noodles which was great. Jude only stayed for a couple of hours but I stayed to the bitter end.

It was funny to see some competitors who had turned up in shirts and ties. They stuck their dragon boat T-shirt over them then put plastic bags over their shoes...it was hilarious because by the time they finished a race they were soaked.

The last six fastest teams competed in the final race. The purple team, Tranzcare, were the champions. I took this pic as they crossed the finishing line and headed straight for the dock wall in their enthusiasm. They narrowly avoided capsizing, which was disappointing as I was primed to catch the moment.

I was very cheeky and pushed through the teams and the crowd to get photos of the medal presentations by the 'Honourable Guests'. I got a fabulous shot of the winning team spraying each other with something fizzy and drinking out of the trophy. It was so difficult to choose which photo to use today; even though I love the 'champagne moment' I decided that as I have been watching dragon boat racing the pic should really be of that.

It was a great day.