Two UM boats, comprising teams of 12, took part in a day of racing in Belfast on September 15th.

The UM boats competed against representatives from other divisions of holding company W&R Barnett to celebrate the business’s 125^th anniversary. In total, 10 boats took part.

The event was held at Bryson Lagan Sports in Belfast, followed by a celebratory dinner.

So far, the UM team – supported by match funding by W&R Barnett - has raised £32,950. In total, over £221,000 will be donated to the full range of charities nominated by all the crews taking part.

Ben Macer, CEO of UM Group, said: “The event was a fantastic way to help celebrate the 125^thanniversary of our holding company, W&R Barnett.

“The money raised from the day for the British Heart Foundation and other charities is staggering.

“I am personally very grateful to the crews that took part and all other colleagues across our divisions who helped to raise donations.

“We are also indebted to the incredible generosity of W&R Barnett whose match funding added a further £165,269 to the total amount raised for the various good causes.”

UM chose to support the British Heart Foundation because the father of colleague Simon Markham died from heart disease.

The full crews for the two UM Dragon Boats were:

Boat 1 – Ben Macer, Jill Pask, Sarah Cripps, Andrew Creasey, Simon Markham, Adam Pierce, Sophie Ryan, Agnieszka Sriskanthan-Reksa, Robbie Flynn, Niall O’Donnell, John Weglarz and Philip Irvine.

Boat 2 – Fionn Beech, Vic Brodrick, Geraldine Carroll, Isabel Conde, Nigel Jones, Karl Pass, Ben Maynard, Bastian Duesing, Lewis Chambers and Bryan Davies.