Dragon Boat Challenge Awards Ceremony
By kind permission of the Lord Mayor the York Rotary Dragon Boat Challenge awards ceremony was held at the Mansion House on Wednesday 7th October. Eighty people attended the event, including the York civic party. This event is the culmination of the annual Dragon Boat Challenge.
It was first an opportunity to thank our corporate sponsors, without the support from our corporate sponsors we could not stage the event.
With all the fundraising concluded Brian Joscelyne, joint team leader, advised that this year the teams have raised £106,000 and with other fundraising from the event the total becomes £111,000, making a total of approximately £1.8m since the event was launched in 2003. The total raised this year was the second highest total to date, very close to the high total of 2025. The event will benefit over 40 charities with much needed support.
5 teams raised of £4,000 and the tame that raised the most was the Parky Paddlers with a fantastic total of £7,108, they were presented with a Certificate and cheque for £50 towards their charity.
The Ged Bell trophy was presented to Crombie Wilkinson Wave Warriors, they were selected by President Jane Albon who was very impressed by the way that their wing costumes shimmered on the water.
The Lord Mayor presented the awards to the teams, these included:
Tailenders trophy for the slowest team to York & Scarborough Hospital Charity
Fastest Charity RNLI Bridlington – Bridlington Bandits
Fastest Commercial team – Cargill Cocoa Dragons
Merlin trophy for the fastest (and on this occasion only) military team - 3 Medical Regiment, Catterick
The Dragon Boat Challenge trophy winners North Yorkshire Police and Fire and their team It’s Good to Talk
Our nominated charities for 2026 were Survive and the York Rotary Charity fund, Survive were presented with £17,876 as their share of the fundraising Survive also increased the amount by their own fundraising from the event. Mags Godderidge their CEO spoke about the impact of the funds received.
A short Reel of the evening is on Instagram and can be accessed via the link below:
Planning for our 2027 event have already started. The 2027 event will be our 25th event which is a great achievement. As part of the planning we have selected our nominated charities for 2027, they are the York Rotary Charity Fund and York Against Cancer. York Against Cancer are raising funds for the minibus appeal and their CEO Andy Knowles told us about the importance of that appeal.
To watch a video of the thanks from Mags Goderidge of Survive and also information from Andy Knowles about the York Against Cancer minibus appeal click on the image below.
Jane Albon presented a cheque to the Lord Mayor for the Lord Mayors appeal and we heard from the Lord Mayor.
The evening closed with confirmation that we look forward to seeing the enthusiastic teams again for the 2027 Dragon Boat Challenge on the 11th July.
David Fotheringham
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