I followed the crowds across… This group are only walking around from Wilsham Road on the opposite bank.

The T-shirt reads “Blessed are the losers for they determine the winners.”

Hosted by the Rotary Club of Abingdon, the Dragon Boat Racing is now an annual event where as well as the races, there is a fun fair and lots of stalls.

Rotarians spend a lot of time and effort raising funds for charitable purposes. ‘Service above Self’ is the Rotary Club’s motto.

The starter is trying to get the boats in line at the start of a race.

The 40 feet long dragon boats were propelled by crews of 16 paddlers, many of them dressed to a theme. This is the cops and robbers team. Each boat was guided by a qualified helm and kept in rhythm by a drummer seated at one end.

Each team raced at least three times along a 250m course. The 12 fastest teams then competed in two finals.

The race shown here was the runners up final (the 7th to the 12th fastest). The boat winning at the half-way stage, ended up finishing last. There had been a colission and the judges made them rerun the race. This brings to mind the bible verse “He that would be first in the Dragon Boats will be last”