Anglo Welsh men make a splash in 24 hour charity boat race

Anglo Welsh Sponsored Charity Boat Race 

Steve Harrison, manager at Anglo Welsh’s Bunbury base on the Shropshire Union Canal, is one of those narrowboat enthusiasts who cheerily spends as much time on the water as on dry land.

On a rare day-off from his Bunbury ‘office’ in rural Cheshire, Steve swapped narrowboats for yachts and dinghies as an Anglo Welsh sponsored team took part in West Lancashire Yacht club’s 50th annual race for charity.

With their Enterprise dinghy decked out in Anglo Welsh colours, Steve and his teammates from Chester Sailing and Canoe club performed gallantly at the charity event staged at Southport Marine Lake.

“It’s a 24 hour race so everybody calls it Le Mans on water,” jokes Steve. “Our veterans won the Masters Trophy for the over-40s and our team finished seventh overall, which was pretty good going considering that our sensor gear snapped at the beginning of the race, which meant some time-consuming jury rigging.”

“A brilliant weekend was had by all,” continues Steve, who was joined on the Anglo Welsh sponsored team by his father, Bunbury colleague Dave, “and luckily, many of the skills used on a narrowboat – working in close quarters, judging distances, adapting to water conditions – are equally relevant on a yacht or canoe.”

“Best of all, Anglo Welsh’s generous sponsorship helped us raise money for the Andrew Simpson Foundation, a charity that is close to the hearts of all sailors.”

Inspired by the memory of Olympic Gold medallist Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, the foundation gives thousands of young people the chance to enjoy the life-changing challenges of sailing. “My family have always had boats and I’ve been navigating on canals for 15 years,” says Steve, who has been based at Bunbury since January 2015, “so I know from personal experience what a liberating and enjoyable experience being on the water is, whatever the vessel!”

Anglo Welsh has a large fleet of narrowboats at its Bunbury base, next to the famous Bunbury Staircase Locks. To book a canal holiday from Bunbury or any of Anglo Welsh’s 11 bases, please call our Booking Office on 0117 304 1122.