Ducks ahoy

You’d be forgiven for needing to look twice. It’s not every river, after all, that boasts a population of plastic ducks.

Yet for 15 minutes on Saturday, the Patea River in Stratford was home to 200 plastic ducks, bobbling their way downstream.

For the past month, the Stratford District Youth Council has been hard at work gathering sponsors for the ducks, with the adoptive parents able to name their duck and choose a lucky number. On Saturday the 200 ducks were released to race from the swingbridge across the Patea down to the Scout Den. Screams of “go DuckDuck!” “faster, Sunshine!” and even “hooray for Fluffy Bum!” could be heard as onlookers cheered their ducks.

The winning ducks earnt prizes for their sponsors, with the main prize being a gift basket, and other prizes including shirts, hats, and Subway vouchers.

Stratford District Youth Council Chairman Ngawai Matthews said the winners were mostly female one-name ducks. “Judz, Lulu and Suzie were the top three fastest ducks.”

All 200 ducks were removed from the river after they crossed the finish line, and are being stored in special ‘racing duck’ crates until they race again.