Dragon Boat Racing!
We always like to do our bit for the community, so in June of this year we sponsored the Peterborough Dragon Boat Festival (one of the largest in the country), for the third year running.
If you don’t know, Dragon Boat Racing is an ancient Chinese tradition and the Peterborough Festival attracts 52 teams of 17 paddlers and a drummer. It is a day of fun for themselves, as well as entertainment for thousands of supporters and spectators – and raises thousands of pounds for charities.
We nominated Peterborough SportsAid Foundation as the main beneficiary, and so valuable funds will go to help young local athletes (male and female, able-bodied and disabled) to achieve their sporting dreams.
The boats and all racing equipment are provided by the organisers, Gable Events, who run dragon boat racing at venues throughout the country.
With the 2012 Olympics approaching we hope to raise more money to aid young sportsmen and women in this area who show real promise and the Foundation provides grants to help them progress in their early teens – a crucial and expensive time in their development.
One of the athletes we have helped with grants is Louis Smith, winner of a Commonwealth Gold Medal in the gymnastic events, and a potential medal winer in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. There are several other local youngsters who are contenders for an Olympic place in 2012. To help them, we are extending the scope of our operation. We devised a Team Peterborough Champions Programme, which Peterborough City Council has incorporated into its Sports Strategy for the city. It was then discussed with Living Sport, the Cambridgeshire sports partnership, and they are now working on it with us.
Ultimately, Living Sport will roll it out to other towns and cities in the county. Following on from this, it is also seen as a potential addition to the national SportsAid work throughout the UK. Obviously everyone connected with the Peterborough SportsAid Foundation is proud to have helped in initiating the programme.
I see it as an important facet of our corporate social responsibility, and I am sure all the local companies who have supported Peterborough SportsAid Foundation have similar feeling
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