Largs & District Round Table Annual Charity Duck Race

What's yellow, fast and dangerous ?
In past years it could have been the Mongol hoards sweeping down the side of a mountain to conquer yet another ancient civilisation.
In more modern times, it's probably just a flotilla of wee yellow plastic ducks, going for gold, down the Gogo Burn in Largs, accompanied by the screams of a few hundred kids.

Every year, we run a Charity Duck Race, to raise funds for CHAS (Children's Hospice Association Scotland) Each duck is numbered for the race. During the preceding month or so, we get people to sponsor a duck for £1. On the day of the race, usually at 2pm, the entire entry of 1,000 ducks is tipped (carefully) into the Gogo Burn from the Main Road bridge beside the Safeways entrance. First duck under the last bridge wins £50 cash, with the next 10 ducks all winning £5 each for their sponsors.
Given the amount of water in the burn, the race to the bottom bridge can take anything from an exhilarating 3 minutes (3.4 mph in 2002) to a stressfully long 1 hour 15 minutes (0.136 mph in 1999)

As well as raising about £800 a year for CHAS, it's proven to be a very popular event in the Largs calendar, with 300 - 400 people trying to keep up with the ducks in the 2002 race.
A cast of hundreds can be involved in collecting the ducks in high water conditions, as one mug in waders with a net isn't always capable of guarding a 30 foot wide burn, allowing the ducks to paddle seawards to freedom.

The date of the race changes, but it's normally on a Saturday in late May or June. Signs around the town will advise of the timing. Ducks can be sponsored in the town around the middle of each Saturday in the weeks before the race, or at the start line before the race.

It's worth watching, if only to see the local kids getting soaked when they fall in !