A team of retired runners take on our Dragon Boat Race

Finding 17 people for a Dragon Boat team isn’t always an easy task, but for the Rushcliffe Retired Runners and Friends, getting a team together was straightforward as they were brought together by a sense of wanting to give back to Hayward House. Team leader Phill explains why they all jumped into a boat together. 

“Our team is formed of a running group of men of a certain age and friends of the group. We really wanted to show our appreciation for Hayward House after our friend and running mate John’s wife, Amanda, was looked after by the kind and caring team. 

She spent quite a lot of time being looked after by Hayward House and John said the care was exceptional, so we signed up to the Dragon Boat Race in memory of Amanda. There’s a large number of us who wanted to take part, including John and his daughter to thank them for everything they did for the family. 

It’s only a few months since Amanda passed, so it was emotional for everyone who knew her but it’s a great and fun way to make a difference.  

Everybody in the group has contributed something to the funds and we’ve raised over £1,000. We had a practice session on the Monday before, so we knew what to expect, but mainly it was something different for us to do as a group. Everyone had an amazing time and couldn’t wait to do it against other teams. 

Of course, we were just there for the laugh, and I think that’s the way it should be. We didn’t want to take it too seriously and wanted to represent all of our team including the ones who couldn’t make it by wearing our t-shirts which has our logo on it, ‘We Digress’ which has become a bit of a symbol for our running group. 

We meet every Tuesday and Thursday and do the parkrun on Saturday, as well as getting together at other times, which is essentially a whole lot of digressing. We talk about a wide range of subjects which really helps bring the group together. 

On the day, some of our team took part in the parkrun before heading over to the embankment, which was amazing to be able to do both. They probably felt very tired afterwards, but the way we always approach things is that we’re just a bunch of 30-year-olds disguised as 60-year-olds.

We had a fantastic time on the day and hearing everyone cheering for us as we crossed the finish line was amazing. I’d recommend the event for anyone who is thinking about taking part next year.”

A huge thank you to Phil and his team for raising money for Hayward House. If you would like to take part in next year’s race, please click the button below.