The festival is the largest dragon boat race in Europe and was attended by the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang and Salford’s Mayor, Paul Dennett.
High Peak charity, Zink, runs a weekly timetable of activities to support the community to be healthier. Anyone can join and timetables can be pick up from Zink HQ in Buxton where there is also a community café.
Zink’s team was put together to support people in recovery from substance misuse and included members supported into work by Zink.
On Sunday in heavy winds, Zink’s team were second out of the dock and took some time to stabilise at the starting line. On the shout of ‘Go’ they set off in good form, paddling in unison at a steady pace but were sidetracked when the HSBC team capsized next to them.
Team Zink recovered quickly and finished just over a second after Hainan Airlines with a time of 62.61 seconds.
Strong winds stopped the competition so Zink didn’t get a chance at a second heat but finished in a respectable 20th place out of 44 beating Adidas, Manchester City FC and Manchester Chinese Student’s Team.
Paul Bohan, Zink’s CEO, said “It was a remarkable result for a team that hadn’t raced before and been practicing on chairs with fake paddles in Buxton car park. They should be really proud.”
The team plan to hone their techniques and race plan to achieve a better result next year.