This is one race I know that many of us have heard of and it’s There are several big duck races held around the world.
In all of the events those attending purchase a “rubber duck” for the day they (sort of) “Adopt-a-Duck”, put their name on it and once the race gets under – it’s best rubber duck win.
What you will need to run a race is as follows:
- Plastic or Rubber Ducks. You will of course need a set of ducks, quantity depending on the size of water you intend to use and the size of your event. You can run a race with as few as 10 ducks, and there are events that race thousands of ducks in wide inland rivers.
- Waterproof Pen. You will need to mark the ducks with numbers or names in waterproof ink, so purchase a waterproof marker and this can be re-used for any new ducks you buy for later events.
- Tickets. You may wish to have tickets that correspond to your duck numbers or names, although a smaller duck race could have sponsor names written on a notepad thus saving you the cost of tickets.
- Prizes. You will of course need some prizes for the winners of your race! Depending on the size of your race you might want a collection of smaller prizes for runner-ups, or just one prize for the ultimate winner.
Rules:
Once the ducks are launched, they are on their own. No attempt to free or interfere with any duck is permitted, unless deemed necessary by the Race Committee.
The race course will close 30 minutes after the first duck has crossed the finish line. Any ducks finishing after that time will not be eligible for prizes.
A number will be attached to each duck relating to the number on an entry ticket. Multiple duck entries from one ticket will be assigned additional duck numbers for identification.
The person’s name that appears on the entry ticket corresponding to the first ducks in order of finish will be awarded prizes
Then all the ducks are thrown into the river and the first duck across the line downstream is the winner. The money raised from selling the ducks goes to charities.
The Great Singapore Duck Race is one of the largest events with a total of 85,000 rubber ducks floating down the Singapore River, managing to raise in excess of $1 Million for local charities.
The Great British Duck Race on the River Thames hosted the event September 2007 and smashed the Guinness World Record for the ‘World’s Biggest Charity Duck Race.
In this event they managed to have 165,000 ducks floating (upright) thereby beating the previous record which was set in the Singapore Event that attracted 123,500 of the yellow specimen ducks which dates back to 2001.
Good luck with your race!!
