Pictured above: Fusion Coventry Dragon Boat Team,  Blood, Sweat and Beers

Over 1,000 employees and their families from major city employer, Fusion and its parent company, BGL Group, attended a Dragon Boat Tournament at Thorpe Meadows rowing lake in Peterborough last weekend. 15 teams from across the BGL business took part in the competition - including Blood, Sweat and Beers from Fusion Coventry - each entering 10 rowers and a drummer to race three 40ft dragon boats. The event raised over £45,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care, Fusion and BGL's corporate charity partner, raising £15,000 more than the original target.

Dragon boat racing is an ancient Chinese tradition and one that is growing in popularity. BGL's event brought together employees from its head office and IT headquarters in Peterborough and Fusion Contact Centres in Bretton, Coventry and Sunderland. Each team had to raise £2,000 to take part in the race which they generated through fundraising events, individual sponsorship and supplier donations. The fastest time recorded on the day was 66.08 seconds by the 'Sweat and Sour Pirates' from the company's Fusion Support division. However, the overall title was claimed by the IT Executive team - 'Come and Have a Row If You Think 'Oar' Hard Enough!'  

Group Chief Executive of the BGL Group, Peter Winslow, said: "This is the first time that we have run a Dragon Boat event and it really did bring out BGL's fun and highly competitive spirit. The whole company has been fundraising and training for the tournament since January and we are all delighted to have raised such a fantastic total. We have set ourselves an ambitious target to raise £1m (one million pounds) for good causes by 2012 and this latest donation takes us one step closer to achieving our goal."

Fusion Coventry employee and part of the Blood, Sweat and Beers Team, Ian Stavers commented: "The contact centre has been busy fundraising with activities ranging from cake stalls and quizzes to managers washing staff car for donations. Despite ending up in the water on more than one occasion the whole team really enjoyed the day. It was a tough challenge - with three races in total - but we managed to improve our time in every race. We all had lots of fun and it was well worth a few bumps and bruises to raise such a huge amount of money for Marie Curie."

As part of the target to raise £1m (one million pounds) for good causes by 2012, BGL Group employees are aiming to raise £250,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care throughout their 2010-12 charity partnership. The funds raised by staff across their three UK sites; Peterborough, Sunderland and Coventry, will help Marie Curie Nurses provide more free care to people with terminal illnesses in their own homes or in one of the charity's hospices.