Tonbridge Lions Dragon Boat Race Makes a Splash for 13th Year Running
Tonbridge Lions Club brought a couple of thousand people to the banks of the River Medway on Sunday 6th September for the 13th annual Tonbridge Lions Dragon Boat Race, one of the club's biggest events of the year.
Held alongside the Tonbridge Food & Drink Festival, the day saw 30 teams from schools, charities, businesses and community groups race down the Medway in glorious sunshine, each crew battling through three heats before the fastest went through to the final.
It was a nail-bitingly close finish. Tonbridge 14th Destroyers defended their title to win for the second year running, with Boars with Oars (Tonbridge School) taking second and Mum and Dads Army completing the podium in third. Woodlands Primary School took the Best Dressed award, their crew paddling as a very convincing box of crayons.
The day was full of moments that captured what the event is really about. Pupils from Hilden Grange School helped to keep the riverside clean, a brilliant show of the community spirit that runs right through the day. For several school teams racing for the first time, seeing their pupils and teachers line the riverbank to cheer them on left them inspired, with more than one already asking to be first on the list for 2027.
As always, the event proved a brilliant fundraiser, both for the causes each team chose to support and for Tonbridge Lions Club's own work across the town, thanks to everyone who came along to watch, cheer and support the day so generously.
Tonbridge Lions Race Director Patricia Rocha Jordan, who led the organisation of the event, said: "There's a moment right after the final race, when everything goes quiet, and you just feel so proud of what the whole community has pulled off together. Even then, before everything's packed away, we're already talking about next year. Thank you to everyone who was part of this one, we couldn't do it without you."
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