First teams sign up for the
Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival!

Companies, clubs and organisations from across the region are getting their teams together and signing up to take part in this year’s eagerly anticipated Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival. Now in its 13^th year, the Festival has become one of the biggest corporate team events in the regional calendar and it’s now a race to enter a team and guarantee a place on the start line in Fen Ditton on Saturday 9^th September!

One of the early entrants is Sitec Infrastructure Services from Waterbeach who specialise in providing specialist acquisition, planning, surveying, engineering, design and construction services across the UK telecommunication and fixed line industries. Crew manager, Taryn Caleno, is looking forward to strengthening internal company relationships through their participation. “We thought it would be a great opportunity for team building. We are always so busy as a company, with a number of different teams working for separate clients and types of work. We find it difficult to fit traditional team building away days into our schedule so this looked a great opportunity to link in our social side with an element of team building too!” Taryn also confirmed that the company will be raising sponsorship for the Festival charity, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and have set a target of £1000.

With teams coming from all corners of Cambridgeshire and surrounding areas and representing so many different industries, the inter-company rivalry is definitely building! Other early Festival entrants include Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and Taylor Wimpey East Anglia.

There are also eight Gold and Silver entries available for the Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival. These include a £500 (silver) or £750 (gold) donation to Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and offer additional marketing benefits such as the company name and logo on the side of a dragon boat. The first of these has been claimed by Stormport Professional Services who are based in Ely and have taken out a Gold package. This will be the companies debut in the festival and crew manager, Clair Godfrey is already excited. “We felt this would be a great opportunity for teambuilding, fundraising and having fun. This will be a fun day during which funds will be raised for a good cause.”

Festival charity, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) is the only charity dedicated to making a difference for patients at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals. Whether it’s treatment for an emergency, acute condition, pregnancy or long term illness, they believe that every patient deserves the highest quality of care available. Their aim is to continue to support the hospitals by raising funds for cutting edge technology, additional specialist services, vital research and extra comforts for patients over and above what would be possible through NHS funding alone.

Emily Willdigg, Events Fundraiser said: “We are absolutely delighted to be the Festival charity again and look forward to building on the success of the sell-out 2016 Festival. We hope that businesses will support our much-loved hospitals by getting a team together. With the help of many generous supporters, we can provide funds so that our local hospitals can offer the very best care day after day, year after year.”

To take part in the dragon boat racing and help raise money for ACT, no previous experience is required, just plenty of team spirit and enthusiasm! The dragon boats, qualified helms and all racing equipment are provided and each crew is guaranteed a minimum of three races. The Festival, supported by Cambridge Edition and Star Radio, promises a fantastic day for competitors and spectators alike with Chinese themed entertainment, children’s rides, inflatable activities and plenty of food and drink for all the family on the bankside. The top fundraising crew for ACT will also receive a wonderful traditional afternoon tea at SIX Panoramic Bar and Restaurant in Cambridge.

For further information and an entry form please visit

www.dragonboatfestivals.co.uk/cambridge or call Gable Events on 01780 470 718. To find out more about the services of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust call 01223 217757 or visit www.act4addenbrookes.org.uk