Out and about

It's a well-known fact that water puts out fire. This can be a problem when you're a fire-breathing dragon. Not ALL dragons can fly, you see. Surely you knew that?

And so, in days of yore, when ye olde dragons needed to cross the local river, they would employ teams of rowers to ferry them across. Frequently, there would be quite a queue of dragons waiting to make their way to the far bank, and so, in order not to incur the wrath of these firey creatures, the boatmen would race each other, to ensure that their dragon-cargo got there first.

And thus was born the sport of dragon boat racing. It makes perfect sense if you think about it...

Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival, Saturday 8th September, Fen Ditton, 10am - 5pm

With racing taking place every ten minutes on the River Cam at Ditton Meadows, and up to 30 boats tearing through the water, this will be a day not to miss! Team spirit is always fantastic with lots of rowers dressing the part and - if you're old enough to remember it - it'll be hard to resist a rousing chorus from the Hawaii Five-0 theme (OK, so we're clashing cultures, but you KNOW you're gonna sing it, anyway...).

Team from the 2006 festival

But I haven't got a boat...

This is a brilliant day out, so if you're not already entered in the races, you can still have a whale of a time on dry land. There's a beer tent, loads of food stalls and BBQ, bouncy castles and inflatables, a DJ, Chinese lion dancers, children's entertainers and quad bikes. And with all those dragons and drummers, you're not going to get bored!

And it's free!

Entrance and parking is free - just head into Fen Ditton's High Street and the dragon boat site will be signposted in the village.

Altogether now... "Da, da, da, da, dah, dah... da, da, da, da, dah!"

Don't miss a thing

Click here for details of events on the day: