by Sam Hawcroft
The organisers of Withernsea’s Blue Light Weekend are inviting people to take part in the inaugural World Mascot Championships being staged as part of August’s event.
There had already been plans to hold a mascot race on the beach on Sunday, August 11, but the idea to expand it into a “world championships” developed during a meeting between Blue Light Weekend event co-directors Dave Penson and Andy Medcalf.
The first Blue Light Weekend last year was the original vision of Andy’s brother Steve, the former operations manager of Withernsea RNLI, who died in December 2022 – and the event is continuing to be held in his memory.
Dave, who runs local events company Blip Active, which is organising the mascot championships, said: “I’d discussed the colour run with Steve and I promised him we would do that along with bringing the raft race back, and both went well last year.
“So, to build on this, it was noticeable how many mascots came to the town for the 2023 Blue Light Weekend, and I just thought it would be a good idea to pull them all together and have a fun run on the beach.
“I discussed this with Andy, who suggested we should make it more of an event – and soon the ideas flowed. It became the Yorkshire championships, then England, then British… and finally the world – as we couldn’t determine that one already existed!”
The event is free for any individual or business to enter. It will take the form of heats from 10am involving an egg and spoon race (plastic shovel and beach ball), a blindfold slalom course, netball hoop and a final dash to the finish to raise the flag.
The winners of the heats will go through to the world finals at noon, with trophies for the top three and mementos for all who take part.
Dave said there was no limit on the numbers who could take part – “the more the merrier” – and the number of heats would depend on how many entered.
He added: “If you haven’t got a mascot… why not? It’s going to be a hilarious spectacle as well as a great way to promote your business or organisation.”
To enter, visit worldmascotchampionship.com.
