Bradford Dragon Boat Festival a roaring success in Saltaire

The annual Dragon Boat Festival was enjoyed at Saltaire's Roberts Park on Saturday and Sunday.

Almost 100 teams competed across the two main races - the Lord Mayor’s Championship followed by the Multi-Charity Championship a day later.

Plenty of boats took to the water (Image: Steven Ward) A dragon boat team has a maximum 16 paddlers and one drummer per race. The course length is 200 metres.

Each team recorded three lap times with the top trio having one last run out to decide the winner.

4th Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment (1.04.640) took home the Lord Mayor’s Championship.

MPM #1 (1.05.610) captured the Multi-Charity Championship crown while Yorkshire Sharks won the Super Cup for local amateur teams.

Races occurred throughout the weekend (Image: Lee Smith) "The attendance was higher than we had originally anticipated," said the festival's spokesperson Gail Simpkins.

"It was a really fantastic vibe all weekend and it went really well.

"Lots of money were raised for the charities. The park was full of families enjoying the atmosphere.

"The workshops were so busy all weekend and the music was well received.

"We easily had around 20,000 people across the weekend."

Visitors also enjoyed workshops in the park (Image: Philip Lickley) She added: "The weather was absolutely fantastic. A little bit overcast but it was still lovely and warm.

"It was significantly better than last year. We had a lot of rain so it changed the dynamics.

"The attendance was up. We build year on year."

Massive dragon and water witch puppets were spotted (Image: Philip Lickley) Not only did visitors take joy from the racing display, an array of live music, food bars, and stall were on offer.

This was along with carnival dancing workshops, circus trick workshops and craft stalls for children.

Cecil Green Arts also brought massive dragon and water witch puppets.

Gail said: "It is really important for the city, its businesses, and people.

"I spend a lot of my time dealing with the negative connotation around Bradford but we had people travel from as far of Wolverhampton and Southampton to attend the races.

"It is just so important to have these free events in our parks across the district so people have things to be positive about.

"When the positivity outweighs the negativity then we can have a thriving society."

The annual event was enjoyed by many (Image: Steven Ward) The festival usually features a Youth Day for local schools on Friday, but that did not happen this year as it clashed with the end of term.

“The Youth Day will be back next year,” said Gail.

"The registration for new teams for next year's event is already open."