Thakeham Lions roar at St Catherine’s Dragon Boat Festival

And we’re back!

The Thakeham Lions have done it again! Our courageous team took to the sunny Tilgate waters with pride, passion and determination at the St Catherine’s Dragon Boat Festival on Sunday.

Our fourth consecutive year taking part, the Lions were ready to race with a full dragon boat of enthusiastic rowers and a roaring drummer!

Mufasa’s pride

Group managing director, Rob Boughton, made his rowing debut at the festival painted as the king, Mufasa. With Lion King theme, Simba drummed us to victory through our first three heats with Mufasa leading the pride past the finish line! Nala, Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki and Zazoo along with a clan of hyenas and a pack of lions, rowed their first three heats unbeaten, securing the fastest time of the day in the third heat before the grand final. An impressive 53.0 seconds, a 14 second improvement on the team’s best time in 2018!

The grand final!

The lions were ready and poised for the win as they lined up with five other boats for the final race. The horn sounded and they were off, paddling in great rhythm. As the finish line drew closer and the entire team echoed the bellows of the drummer, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 – the Lions narrowly missed out on the top spot, claiming third position out of 34 teams.

Bringing people together

Another oar-some day at the St Catherine’s Dragon Boat Race Festival – an event  which brings together the local community, friends, family and nearby businesses to raise valuable funds for the very special St Catherine’s Hospice.

Thank you!

A massive thank you to all our friends, family, contractors and partners that supported our mission; at time of writing we have raised over £6,000 for the Hospice. Also, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came down and cheered us on at Tilgate park, the day wouldn’t have been the same without you!

Thank you to the talent that is Imagine body and face paint for another year of spectacular face paining – your designs bought our characters to life!

If you would like to make a donation, click here.

Until next year Dragon Boat Festival, we will be coming back for a win next year!