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STORY: :: Floating bathtubs battle it out in a colorful Belgian regatta

:: August 15, 2024

:: Dinant, Belgium

:: Maxence Adam, Co-organizer of the event

:: "The main goal, I think, for a participant is to not sink and to make it to the finish. They can follow the theme we impose or not, but the main goal, for the organizers, the onlookers, the volunteers and the participants is to have an amazing day in the most beautiful city in the world."

:: Edouard Adrien, Bathtub regatta participant

:: "We've been friends for almost ten years and we realized that we don't do many things that are out of the ordinary. But I think that what we're doing today is well out of the ordinary. We made the raft by hand, we thought of bringing costumes and most of all we are having a good time together."

The unique race started in 1982 after a local shopkeeper heard on the radio that someone in Italy had gone down a river in a bathtub, according to the co-organizer of the event Maxence Adam.

This year's theme was Belgium, so people dressed up as Tintin, the Smurfs, singer Jacques Brel, and decorated bathtubs with Belgian symbols.

There's always the risk of sinking. Two of the 42 bathtub rafts in Thursday's regatta did not make it to the finishing line. For those who did, there was no need to worry about coming last: every participant received a medal or trophy, with awards given for originality, theme, beauty, and ambiance.