Annual Dragon Boat Challenge
Details of our fantastic annual Dragon Boat Challenge!
Put the next event in your diary now - Sunday 26th May 2024!
This is the 'flagship' charity event for the Medway Sunlight Rotary Club and one that everybody involved in really enjoys. It is normally held on the Whitsun Bank Holiday Sunday which in 2024 is on Sunday 26th May 2024 and races run throughout the day over a short course of 250 Metres of Basin No 2 in Chatham Maritime finishing at the Water Sports Centre.
The Dragon boats are forty foot long, elaborately decorated, Chinese war canoes with a dragon's head and tail attached. You provide 16 "volunteers" to paddle a boat plus a drummer to beat out the rhythm for everyone to paddle to (which everyone tends to ignore!).
Teams seek sponsorship for their efforts in aid of our charities and can nominate 50% to a charity of their choice.
All the teams that enter each year have a brilliant time and provide a fantastic spectacle for the thousands of spectators who throng the side of Basin 2 to cheer on their favourite team and to enjoy the wide range of food and drink available at the Food and Drink Festival. A close run finish between the top six fastest teams in 2023 saw the winners lift a magnificent trophy and contributed over £20,000 raised for charity.
There are also corporate packages available to promote your company or just to take part in a brilliant team building day! We aim to make the 2024 event even bigger and more successful for all taking part and already a great deal of interest has been expressed in entering teams.
See the other pages listed to the right hand side for more details - go on enter a team! E-mail dragonboat@medwaysunlightrotary.org.uk for more details.
Why not get a flavour of all of the fun of the event by clicking here for a short video?
Contact Bill Parkinson about this page:
Annual Dragon Boat Challenge pages:
Dragon Boat Challenge 2025
more Register your interest for the 2025 Challenge now! - Sunday 26th May 2025
Dragon Draw Prize Winners
more All the winners of prizes in Sunday's Dragon Draw at the Dragon Boat Challenge
Dragon Boat Challenge Hall of Fame
more Want to have a go at beating the course record? - look out for the entry forms for this year's Dragon Boat Challenge
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Charity Dragon Boat Challenge 2024
more Its back -are you up for it? Now in its 9th year and over £95,000 raised for charity in that time! (6 pages below this)
Launch of the 2024 Dragon Boat Challenge Entry Forms!
more Everything you need to enter this year's Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday 26th May 2024.
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Dragon Boat Challenge 2024 - Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities
more Want to promote your company or organisation at our premier fund raising event of the year? Corporate team packages, advertising and more.
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Dragon Boat Challenge - 26th May 2024
more Have you expressed an interest in entering yet?
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Dragon Boat Challenge Hall of Fame
more All the winners and their times from previous year's Dragon Boat Challenges - can you get in the Hall of Fame this year and beat the fastest time ?
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2023 Dragon Boat Challenge FURTHER UPDATED
more Yes we are busy planning for this year's Charity Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday 28th May 2023 - details of the event can be found here and you can find the entry forms etc. on the related pages. Come and join us! (9 pages below this)
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The Dragons are back!
more Our popular, colourful and enjoyable Charity Dragon Boat Challenge is back on Sunday 5th June 2022! Entry forms and full details are now out - join us for a great fun day. Email dragonboat@medwaysunlightrotary.org.uk for details!
Dragon Boat Challenge 2022
more Its Back - Bigger and Better ! (5 pages below this)
Dragon Boat Challenge 2021
more Update on this year's Dragon Boat Challenge
2020 Dragon Boat Challenge news (4th July 20)
more Regretfully we have had to cancel the 2020 Dragon Boat Challenge BUT read on .......
Important update on the Charity Dragon Boat Challenge 2020
more Some good news though !
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Are you ready for the 2020 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge?
more Entry Forms are now available elsewhere on this site but see here for a summary of what it is all about - come and join us this year - it is great fun!
The 2020 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge entry forms are out!
more Are you ready to play a part in this year's Medway Sunlight Rotary Club Charity Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday 24th May, as part of the Chatham Maritime Trust Three Day Food & Drink Festival?
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Want to promote your organisation in our Dragon Boat Challenge programme?
more We produce 4500 copies of a high quality, colour programme that is delivered to every house on St Mary's Island and given away to thousands of spectators on the day.
Entry for the 2020 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge opens shortly!
more Be sure to email us your expression of interest form to ensure that you are amongst the first to receive the entry form !
Thank you for another fantastic Dragon Boat Challenge !
more 2019 Dragon Boat Challenge another success! Fancy a go in 2020?
The 2020 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge is coming!
more The Entry Forms and information for this year's Challenge will be sent out before the end of January and also be posted on this website - get your form back quickly to be in this year's races!
Photos from the Dragon Boat Challenge 2019
more Just a few from Sunday's event to wet your appetite until we have gathered the rest - do you have any that you would like to share with us?
Dragon Boat Challenge team's times
more Find out how your team managed in their three timed heats to decide on the top 12 to progress to the finals
The results of the 2019 Dragon Boat Challenge !
more A very close 6 boat final race saw Team GBE win by under half a second from Medway Rowers - well done to both of them and to all the teams that took part!
Lost Property
more We have a few items left behind at the Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday - are they yours?
2019 Dragon Draw winning tickets
more Details of all winning tickets in our Grand Dragon Draw 2019
Dragon Boat Captain's Pack with all the information you need for the 26th May
more Copy of the Captain's pack which has been sent to all registered Team Captains - contains sponsor forms, team registration, flag details and lots more.
New video of last year's Dragon Boat Challenge
more With the kind help of Mid Kent College students we are pleased to present a short video of last year's fun - this year's event will be even bigger and better!
Entry Forms for the 2019 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge - now out!
more Our ever popular and growing Dragon Boat Challenge takes place on Sunday 26th May 2019 - find out how to enter here
2018 Dragon Boat Challenge photos
more UPDATED - more pictures added - spot your team in action!
Another brilliant Dragon Boat Challenge !
more The 2018 Dragon Boat Challenge ended in another great final race between the top 6 fastest teams from the heats.
Want to donate to the Charity Dragon Boat Challenge ?
more 26 teams will be thrashing it out on the water on Sunday 27th May 2018 - why? - for fun, for the bragging rights of being the winner and of course to raise funds for Charity !
The Minor and Major final - team times and positions
more See the winners of both the President's Trophy for the Minor final and for the Clive Lawrence Memorial Trophy for the Main Final
Medway Sunlight Rotary Charity Dragon Boat Challenge on TV !
more Our thanks to KMTV for inviting us into their studio today to talk about the Dragon Boat Challenge
2018 Dragon Draw Winners
more All the winning tickets from yesterday's very successful Dragon Draw at the Dragon Boat Challenge. Thank you so much to all those generous people and businesses that donated prizes and to everyone who bought tickets.
Dragon Boat Challenge Heat Times
more For all those stat nuts out there - here are all the times of all the teams in the three heats - fastest 12 went into the finals.
Dragon Boat Challenge Site Map
more A map of the site showing where to register, team village etc
2018 Dragon Boat Captain's Pack
more All the information sent to Captains to help them press gang their crews!
Team list for the 2018 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge is released!
more 26 teams will be battling it out on the water between 10:30 and 4:30pm on 27th May 2018 in aid of charity - see who is taking part and come on down to cheer them on !
Congratulations to Kent Boat and Ski Club - the Winners of the 2018 Dragon Boat Challenge
more All final race positions and times together with photos will be posted as soon as possible!
Interested in entering the 2018 Charity Dragon Boat Challenge?
more NEWS! Application forms and details of the 5th Anniversary Charity Dragon Boat Challenge have now been released - links to everything you need to enter are given below. Have a look at this short video for a flavour of the fun!
Photos from the 2017 Dragon Boat Challenge
more Spot your team in action or just enjoy the fun of the day in pictures.
Another great Dragon Boat Challenge !
more Results of the 2017 Dragon Boat Challenge
Winners of the Dragon Draw !
more Many thanks to everyone who supported us by buying Draw Tickets to help raise money for Rotary Children's Hospice Holidays and other Rotary supported charities.
Dragon Boat Challenge 2017
more Planning for our fourth annual Dragon Boat Challenge is well under way - keep checking here for new information.
Line up for the fourth annual Dragon Boat Challenge is announced
more The list of teams taking part in this coming Sunday's Dragon Boat Challenge has been published.
We are on KM Online!
more The Dragon Boat Challenge is mentioned as a main attraction in this article in this week's What's On.
Entry Forms for the 2017 Dragon Boat Challenge are now out!
more Entry forms for our fourth annual Charity Dragon Boat Challenge are now out and can be downloaded here.
Dragon Boat Captain's Pack
more All the forms and information sent to the Captains of our 30 teams ready for the big day.
2016 Dragon Boat places and timings
more see how your team got on
Dragon Boat Challenge 2016
more photos from a fantastic day!
Dragon Boat Challenge 2016
more What a day! early images of another fantastic event
Dragon Draw 2016 Winners !
more The winning numbers and prizes
Dragon Boat Challenge - 29 May 2016 - UPDATED
more All the information you need as we approach this year's great event!
Captains Pack
more All of the information sent out to Captains of this year's 30 teams
Dragon Boat Challenge 2015
more All the news and pictures of our second Annual Dragon Boat Challenge (4 pages below this)
Dragon Boat Challenge 2014
more Details of our first ever Dragon Boat Challenge (1 page below this)
2014 Dragon Boats - What a fantastic day!
more Some early thoughts on the great Dragon Boat Challenge on Sunday May 25th (3 pages below this)
Winners of the 2014 Dragon Draw
more Details of the prize winners in our magnificant Dragon Draw