THE Corsair Pirates are celebrating this week after their victory in the Dragon Boat Race at the weekend.

The event, organised by the Rotary Club of Swindon Phoenix, was held at Coate Water on Sunday and was a huge success, with 18 teams of 16 people taking part.

The Corsair Pirates, who took the trophy, are all employees of W J White, office furniture manufacturers, plus a few new crew members.

Spokesman Simon Maynard said: “We took part in the race last year and came fourth. “It was such a good day and we all enjoyed it so much we continued to talk about it a year later. “We took part to promote camaraderie, which it certainly did, and at the same time enabling us to raise money for local charities, in particular CALM.

“We decided to raise money for Cancer Research UK this year as we have had a couple of employees who have been personally affected by this terrible disease.”

In the first race, the team recorded a time of 1.06.08 but certainly improved as the day went on, eventually recording an impressive time of 57.98. “We were hoping to win a medal this year, but couldn’t believe it when we came first to win the dragon,” said Simon.

“There is a massive buzz within our factory today, we will definitely be entering again next year to defend our title.”