Marlow Regatta 2009

Press Release: Thursday 25 June 2009

Sabre Teams defy the credit crunch to raise over £6k!

Sunday 14th June saw thirty nine teams assemble at the waterside in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, armed with oars and fancy dress, ready to jump into boats and paddle their way to victory. Of those, seven were paddling in support of Sabre. We were the partner charity for the day and the only people giving out free crisps, chocolate and really bad tips on paddling technique! We looked to have a strong line up and a good turn out in the form of the Paddleators, Banana Ghana, The Jabberwocks, The Ghandoliers, Ashanti Dragons, Fantanise Dragons and last years champions the Wilderness Wildcats.

Amidst much banter all the teams took to the water in the early stages in an attempt to get the quickest time ,as the fastest nine teams would go through to the final stages. Wilderness Wildcats knew they had their honour to defend but still seemed fairly relaxed, comfortably pulling through all their early stage races without too much effort.

It was clear some teams (not ours!) were taking it more seriously than others and rumours began circulating that some of them actually do this more than once a year. Not to be perturbed by this and unable to take any dutch courage on board (competition rules!), our teams were left to fight it out in the traditional way – with as much splashing and attempted coordination as possible. Each team required a drummer to sit at the front and keep time, however, some of the crew were unable to hear the drum such was their intense focus on the task at hand. These teams got round this by trying to outwit their opponents by wearing silly costumes in an attempt to distract them. The full size Banana outfit still remains a Sabre staff favourite, although obviously we should point out that everyone made a fantastic effort and looked great! By the end of the qualifiers all our teams had paddled some great races and it was time for a short rest and whatever you could find for lunch.

With high spirits all round the commentator announced the nine finalists. Fortunately or unfortunately, (history doesn't relate!), it was only the Wilderness Wildcats who reached the finals. This left our other six teams to rally them on, forgetting that just a moment ago they had all been competitors, and showing typical Ghanaian style friendliness. The Wilderness Wildcats stunned the opposition in their semi-final and picked up the fastest time of all the semi-finalists, beating everyone else by well over a second. Improving on their previous time in the final was sadly not enough to retain the title, however, and the Wilderness Wildcats paddled their way into third place. It was a great effort and they can hold their painted faces up high in the knowledge that not only were they Sabre's best team of the day, but that they can always come back and seek revenge next year.

The total raised for Sabre through the joint efforts of all teams involved has now passed £6,300 and counting. If you haven't yet made your donation please don't delay as we are using all monies raised from this event to fund our kindergarten building project in Dwabor. If you would like to find out more about the kindergarten project, please look at the project images posted on Flickr, check out our blog and follow the fundraising progress at our appeal page. As you can see this is a very real and live project, and your donations have taken us a big step closer to our goal.

A big thank you to all of those who took part in the day, we had a great time and hope that you did too. We look forward to seeing you for more of the same next year!