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Aug 21 - Another Fun-Packed Cardboard Boat Race

The temperature reached a scorching 28C down at Ocean Village on the weekend but that did not deter the enthusiastic sailors from taking part in what was perhaps the biggest RAOB /Ocean Village Charity Cardboard Boat Race to date.

The Minister for Culture, the Media, Youth & Sport Steven Linares and Miss Gibraltar 2017, Jodie Garcia, were in attendance with her 1st and 2nd princesses, Tessa Britto and Sian Dean.

Plenty of effort had been poured into the design and production of each and every cardboard vessel, as a large crowd as gathered in Casemates Square to see the pre-judging and registration.

A record 19 boats registered for the race, including six children’s entries who all wowed the crowds in their own special way, but clear winners for children’s best boat design was “Hawaii Five Uh-Oh” a beautiful Hawaiian-inspired boat, complete with cardboard shark.

The child’s race was close, but Europa FC’s “Green Machine” pipped everyone else to the post and won the 1st place prize, Repair & Go’s speedy “Needs Repair” vessel scooped 2nd place, with O’Reillys “Pink Pirates” o-arrrrrring their way to Best Team Fancy Dress and a very respectable 3rd place (pictured below).

The Gibraltar Prison Service’s many hours of hard labour won The Bridge Bar & Grill Shield and prize of “Best Boat Design” for the adults, with their H.M.P Moorish Castle prison-style boat and matching inmate costumes.

Honourable mentions in the bevy of beautiful designs included the pink Percy Pig themed boat from M&S Gibraltar, the stunning flowery Boat-anicals from the Alameda Gardens and the immense Yellow Submarine from Lynx FC.

James Murphy from Payment Protection Scotland at the World Trade Center Gibraltar and race partner, John Glover won the 1st prize for the Adult’s Race with their impressively fast boat “Last Minute”, (pictured top left) walking away with a package prize of several cases of Monster energy drink, two £20 Dominos pizza vouchers, 2 x £20 fuel vouchers from GibOil, plus two bottles of wine from Lewis Stagnetto.

In a knuckle-biting grand finale, 1st and 2nd place winners took to the water for a spontaneous race-off, with “Repair & Go” the clear overall winners, celebrating with their Champion’s Trophy and a voucher for Sunday Lunch for two on-board the 5 star Sunborn Hotel.

The festivities continued over the two days with other marina activities and rides offered to the public in exchange for charity donations for GBC Open Day. Radio Gibraltar captured all the action with their outside broadcast with exciting activities including kayaking, water-zorbing, stand-up paddle boarding, and HM Customs were also on hand providing speed boat rides up and down the bay. Two inflatable nine-metre long water slides added to the buzzing atmosphere, one with foam cannon - sponsored by Eroski Gibraltar, both of which were enjoyed by youngsters every minute of the two days!

The final amount raised for charity is still being counted at the time of this release, but it was an extremely busy and exciting two days, enjoyed by adults and children alike.


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