Phuket Community Foundation launches Race Day
Specially designed Rubber Duck hats will be offered for sale at the PCF Race Day. Photo by Nan.
The Phuket Community Foundation held a press conference recently to launch its upcoming Race Day.
Some 20 members of local and national press attended the press conference, held at the Baan Klung Chinda restaurant in Phuket Town. Also attending were a number of the event’s sponsors.
Dressed in bright yellow PCF T-shirts and wearing “duck caps” made specially to promote the Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race, which will form part of Race Day, PCF’s director Janyaporn Morel and manager Roonprakai Sang-In explained that the event, on November 7 at Canal Village in the Laguna complex,will comprise a variety of races an other activities.
Starting at 2pm, Race Day will include dragon boat races, kayak races, a home-made raft race, a muay talay competition (boxing while perched on a horizontal pole) and a cardboard box race for kids (last one to sink is the winner).
The big event of the afternoon will be the Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race with hundreds, possibly thousands, of little yellow rubber ducks racing down the canal at Canal Village (the technical staff of Laguna Phuket will make the water move specially for the occasion). Each duck will be numbered on its, er, south side, and the holders of tickets corresponding to the numbers of the first six ducks to cross the line will win big prizes totalling around B600,000.
These prizes are: Four nights for two in a Banyan Tree spa pool villa, with a romantic dinner, a round of golf and full spa treatment; a game fishing trip or luxury cruise for six, from Wahoo; three nights for two at Amanpuri; a year’s family membership of the Phuket International Academy’s sports club (opening next April), an original sculpture from industrial artist John Underwood, and an Apple Mac laptop from Phuket International Academy.
Other charities and community organisations will join in, setting up side stalls with village-fête-type games to keep everyone amused. For kids who know how to kick there will be a Beat the Goalie competition. Not easy – the guy in goal will be Martyn Ware, who was once with Tottenham Hotspur and then with Queen’s Park Rangers.
There will also be a bouncy castle, face painting and balloon animals, and a marquee with food and drinks at very reasonable prices. For those who want to get close to the races, Laguna’s fleet of ferries will be available. Across the road, there will be pony rides, or kids can meet Laguna’s baby elephant.
For more information and to enter any of the competitions, go here. To buy tickets for the Great Phuket Rubber Duck Race, go to this page, where duck numbers may be bought online, or where buyers can see a list of local duck race ticket outlets. Facebook members have the chance to get – free – four more ducks for each one they buy.
All proceeds from the event will go into the Phuket Community Foundation’s Grant Fund, from which donations will be allocated to groups or organisations that have good ideas for improving Phuket. Grant applications will be accepted throughout December, with the grants being made in January.
[...] from the Phuket Community Foundation’s Race Day on November 7 (see earlier story here), there are at least three other fundraisers in the coming weeks. These [...]