THIS band of dandy highwaymen took to the River Ouse as they prepared to stand and deliver a victory in this weekend’s York Rotary Dragon Boat Challenge.

The team of Dick Turpins are actually all staff of Visit York, the city’s official tourism body. They will be hoping to raise money for St Leonard’s Hospice, which celebrates its silver jubilee this year.

Sue Frumin, business engagement manager at Visit York, said: “Our Dick Turpins are a little friendlier than the real thing though our team is hoping it’s new persona will us raise £2,000 for York Against Cancer and our chosen charity, St Leonard’s Hospice.”

Yesterday the hospice was handed a cheque for £23,000 – the proceeds of last year’s Dragon Boat Challenge.

Graham Wilford, York Rotary Club President, visited the Hospice on Tadcaster Road with a group of the club’s Dragon Boat Committee members to hand over the cheque to the hospice’s chief executive Martyn Callaghan.

He said: “This very generous donation, raised through the efforts of all the dragon boat teams and of the Rotary Club of York’s great organisation of the race, means that the hospice is being helped to maintain its services to the people of York who have life-threatening illnesses, and to their families.”

The dragon boat event is part of the Festival Of Rivers, which runs from July 9 to 24.

There will be a range of events around the Ouse and Foss, including on the Syntan “arts” barge.

Sunday’s Dragon Boat Challenge takes place on a 250-metre stretch between Scarborough and Lendal Bridges and will see 36 teams battle it out in a variety of crafts. Four boats will race at a time and the organisers promise “gala day atmosphere”.

For more details, visit yorkfestivals.com