Dragon boat club donates racing vessel to Ukraine

A Worcestershire boat club is helping a Ukrainian paddling team get back on the water after their clubhouse was destroyed by a drone strike.

Pershore Phoenix Dragon Boat Club is donating a race boat to Odesa Dragons in Ukraine after they were hit by the attack in 2023.

To pay for it to reach the team, boat club members are raising funds by running, walking, paddling, cycling and swimming the equivalent 1,739 miles (2,800km) distance to Odesa.

Linda Harris, chair of Pershore Phoenix Dragon Boat Club, said the Ukrainian club members were very grateful and "utterly shocked" at the gesture.

The club were first contacted by Thames Dragons in London asking if they could donate equipment to the Ukrainian club.

They decided they could afford to donate an older boat after finding a replacement.

Harris said her team won the Standard League (an annual competition for registered clubs across the UK) in the boat in 2012, and also took part in the Queen's Jubilee pageant in it in the same year.

"It's got quite a lot of special memories," she said. "It needed a bit of love and they were very happy to accept it needed a bit of love.

"We thought it was a really nice way for it to continue its journey."

She said she had raced against an "amazing" Ukrainian team in the European Championships when she represented Great Britain in 2016.

She also competed against the country in a veterans competition in 2024 with many athletes fresh from the frontline.

However, she said the club members were "utterly shocked" at the gesture of being given a new boat.

"They can't believe that people they've never met before are willing to go to such lengths to make sure that they can get back on the water," Harris added.

The 50 members of the Pershore club are hoping to raise about £1,000 towards the £5,000 travel and fuel costs after receiving a large donation from a private donor.

As of Wednesday evening, the members had reached about half their target distance, she said.

Harris added an Irish haulage firm was taking the boat all the way to Odesa, and she hoped the fuel cost did not keep rising.

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