The OSCAR Dragon Boat Race is back for 2025, and this year marks a major milestone as we celebrate the event’s 10-year anniversary.
The Dragon Boat Race is an essential part of the maritime calendar, according to Maritime London CEO, Jos Standerwick. Every September,500 shipping people gather in London to network, have fun and raise money for seriously ill children.
“What’s amazing is that 50% of the teams who take part are principals, primarily shipowners,” says organiser Phil Parry. “We are hugely grateful to Union Maritime, Oldendorff, A.M. Nomikos, Lomar, CoolCo and Navigator Gas, all of whom come back every year. Similarly, Thomas Miller, Miller Insurance, Tysers, NorthStandard, The Baltic Exchange, Steamship Mutual and Britannia P&I all take part year on year and Taylor Maritime, Ashley Group Holdings and TMC Marine are now regulars.”
The 2025 event takes place on the Thursday of the week before London International Shipping Week, 11th September. “We’ve gone early to increase the chances of a sunny day,” says Spinnaker’s event organiser Bethanie-Taylor Grenfell (pictured above). “Fingers crossed we will continue to be blessed with good weather as we always have.”
Registration is now open, and in a very short time, an incredible 16 teams have already signed up. This follows a record-breaking 2024 event, which saw 30 teams raise an astonishing £750,000 – the highest fundraising total in the event’s history. With that achievement, the OSCAR Dragon Boat Race has now raised over £2.5 million since its inception. “When you have a spectacular year like that, you always fear that you won’t be able to repeat it, but we are certainly going to give it a good try.” Says Phil Parry.
Last year’s fundraising champions, Union Maritime, led the way with a remarkable £500,000 raised, an outstanding contribution that set a new benchmark for generosity and impact. “We are enormously grateful, not only to Union Maritime, but to all of the brokers, suppliers, counterparties, law firms, insurers and others who donate to them and the other teams who take part,” says Parry. “And of course, special mention must go to Oldendorff who sponsor the bar every year.”
The OSCAR campaign is the inspiration of Phil Parry, CEO of Spinnaker, whose son Oscar received life-saving care at GOSH. Oscar was treated for two types of leukaemia from age 3 to age 8. He had two bone marrow transplants, the second trialling an entirely experimental type of T-cell transplant, which was successful, and which has been developed and has saved numerous children.
Until now, the Oscar Campaign has primarily funded research and treatment of leukaemia and other childhood blood cancers. The focus at the moment is on funding the construction of a new Children’s Cancer Unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is costing £300 million.
“This is a very big number, so in addition to our usual fundraising efforts, we are hoping to find some generous sponsors of the event itself and to encourage major corporate or private donations and I would be delighted to hear from anyone in the shipping industry who may wish to consider making a major gift,” says Phil Parry. “Maybe we might even encourage a few ship owners to collaborate and raise several million pounds to fund a dedicated shipowners’ wing.”
The OSCAR Dragon Boat Race continues to prove that when the maritime industry comes together, it can create lasting change. Let’s make the 10th anniversary event the biggest and most impactful yet.
Event resources can be found on the Events Page on Spinnaker’s website.
www.spinnaker-global.com/events
Notes to Editors
The OSCAR campaign (The Ocean and Shipping Community Advancing Children’s Health and Research) is an innovative fundraising partnership uniting the international shipping community to raise funds at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (ICH).
The campaign is the inspiration of Phil Parry, CEO of Spinnaker, whose son Oscar received life-saving care at GOSH. Oscar had leukaemia twice and endured three transplants before being cured by some pioneering research.
Since its inception in 2011, the OSCAR campaign has raised over £3.6million, helping to refurbish vital facilities at the hospital, and funding pioneering research into childhood cancers and immune diseases at GOSH and the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.
Every week in the UK, around five children lose their lives to this devastating disease. But cancer doesn’t need to be fatal to change a child’s life forever—it can steal their childhood, limit their potential, and take away their future.
The new Children’s Cancer Centre is being designed to change that. Once complete, it will be the most technologically advanced facility of its kind anywhere in the world. It will allow the hospital to treat 20% more children, offer kinder and more effective treatments, and drive forward the discovery of new cures. Purpose-built spaces will support not only life-saving clinical care, but also the emotional and psychological wellbeing of children and their families, ensuring that young patients have the best possible chance not just to survive, but to thrive.
This landmark project represents a bold step towards a future where no child’s life is cut short by cancer.
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