23 July 2010
Lycra-clad ninja turtles, danger mice and golden dragons battled it out last night (Thursday) in Thames Water's annual charity Raft Race.
Olympic rower Andy Triggs Hodge with team PUMPED
Eighteen teams, made up of Thames Water employees, contractors, and local businesses paddled a one-mile route on the River Thames from Caversham Bridge in Reading, Berks, to raise £12,000 for the company's principal charity, WaterAid.
The teams - including 'Captain Carbon and the Greenhouse Gases', 'The Unsinkable', 'Super Six', 'Team PUMPED Mutant Ninja Turdles' and 'Danger Mice' - each designed, built and decorated their rafts.
Martin Baggs, Chief Executive of Thames Water, who fired the starting gun, said:
"The Raft Race is a fun event and we're grateful to those who support it both from the shore and on the water. But there's a serious side to this: helping raise money for WaterAid's life-saving work providing safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to people in the poorest parts of the world.
"Over one billion people in the world don't have access to the basic human right of safe drinking water. WaterAid helps these people and we are proud to support their vital work."
Handing out the prizes was Andy Triggs Hodge, the Olympic and double world champion rower, who said:
"I've learned a great deal today about fitness, athleticism, technique and team work - all of which will be invaluable for me at the World Championships later this year."
Lewis Moody, captain of the England rugby team, who backed Team PUMPED (Thames Water's corporate communications team), said:
"Clean water and sanitation are taken for granted in the West. But for people who don't have them, life is desperate. There are few better causes than WaterAid. In fact, I guess you could say that, like Team PUMPED, I too am 'pumped' to support WaterAid."
The teams are hoping to raise a combined total of £12,000 through sponsorship, adding to the record-breaking £630,000 raised at the Thames Water Love Water Ball in June 2009.
The money raised will go towards WaterAid projects in Africa, where 40 per cent of the population live without access to clean drinking water and around 60 per cent without a proper toilet.
Thames Water has been supporting WaterAid since the charity was established in 1981. Over the past 29 years, Thames Water has collectively donated £15m to help the charity provide safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world's poorest people.
The race was won by The Invincibles (Thames Water's Thames Tunnel team). Team PUMPED, who came fifth by cheating, has so far got more sponsorship for WaterAid - £3,600 and counting - than any other team.
