NANAIMO — Thousands of people will converge in downtown Nanaimo this weekend, culminating with the World Championship Bathtub Race on Sunday, July 27, at Maffeo Sutton Park.
A ticketed concert at the park Friday evening by tribute bands Doobie Brothers Experience and Eagle Eyes is followed by a full weekend of activities at the park, including a beer garden, live music, vendors, food trucks and a kids’ zone.
Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society Commodore Greg Peackock expects around 50 tubbers to participate in Sunday’s race, with competitors in the stock and super modified classes.
“It’s a spectacle of raw courage and true bathtub seamanship, is what Frank Ney would say,” Peacock told NanaimoNewsNOW.
The nearly 60-kilometre course involves participants on small one-person vessels navigating often choppy waters, with the course going around the Winchelsea Islands and back.
With super modified boats now easily surpassing 60 kilometres an hour, the top boats could cross the finish line in under an hour, weather dependent.
A record time of 1:00:45 was obtained by Brandon Skipper in the 2023 race.
Peacock emphasized the need for additional escort boaters to step forward.
“You have to have one, it’s a safety factor, there’s no way you can be out in a little eight-foot bathtub without somebody watching your back.”
A new addition this year is a large video screen during the race set up at Maffeo Sutton Park, which will stream the race live to YouTube.
GPS units placed on each boat, as well as a series of cameras and drones, will be fed to the live stream, Peacock said.
“Ideally, it’s going to be phenomenal, but we have to treat it like an experiment because this is very fresh, very new. It’s a technical challenge to get all of those signals back,” Peacock said, who noted cameras on some escort boats will send live footage for the production.
The video link will be available at bathtubbing.com, which also has a comprehensive outline of the weekend’s itinerary.
Another popular aspect of the bathtub weekend is the parade taking place on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., starting on Commercial and Albert Streets, and proceeding down Commercial and Front Streets to Maffeo Sutton Park.
Peacock noted 60 organizations are represented for the parade, which will include a large Victoria-based marching band.
This year’s parade was at risk due to new enhanced safety regulations for large street-based events.
Peacock said traffic control company Universal Group provided a significant discount to provide traffic control services throughout the entire weekend.
“That’s phenomenal for us because it’s a liability and very difficult to staff, having them take care of that element is a big relief for us.”
Greg Peacock will be at the finish line to greet finishers of the 2025 bathtub race. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your email inbox every evening.
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