Sports and leisure

Man: The organisers of next year's national dragon-boat championships have sent their proposal. They'd like to race on the river at Salter's Wharf, and they're asking us for eighteen thousand pounds. Woman: That's a lot. What do they say we'd get for it? Man: According to their brochure, the last host town had four thousand visitors over the weekend. Woman: I spoke to the events officer in Carrick, where it was held last year. Most of those four thousand were local families who wandered down to the quayside for an hour. The crews arrived on the morning of each race and drove home afterwards, so the hotels hardly noticed. Man: Then the board won't go for it. Could we get the organisers to lower the fee? Woman: I tried. They won't go below eighteen. But I'd still back it. Carrick ran free taster sessions on the Sunday afternoon, and two new clubs have started there since, with over a hundred paddlers between them. Our grants are supposed to leave something behind once an event has packed up and gone. Man: So we put it to the board as a way of getting people onto the water, not as a boost for tourism. Woman: Exactly.