Crowds turned out to watch hundreds upon hundreds of rubber ducks bob down Porter Brook River in Sheffield today (April 1) for the Friends of the Porter Valley Park Duck Race. The stream of bathtub quackers practically formed a yellow ribbon as they arrived at the finish line. Watch this clip to see the first one to brave the 'waterfall' and cross the finish line before over a thousand like it make their arrival.
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00:00 The ducks are now heading towards the trickiest part of the course here with the waterfall
00:08 and to contend with here through the stepping stones.
00:12 Come on, we need to cheer them along, boys and girls, mums and dads.
00:17 Come on, let's have some noise for the ducks. It's time to cheer.
00:20 The ducks are on the way. There'll be some hard work keeping them all in the river, in the course, under water.
00:27 But they are slowly moving down.
00:30 It's coming down a lot quicker than yesterday with the river moving.
00:33 But there are now lots of ducks in the view here.
00:37 Let's hope they all get over the stepping stone bridge.
00:41 Oh, look at all those people waiting with their assistance sticks.
00:46 Remember, the assistance sticks are to get them at the edge, not to put them further down the river.
00:51 Take it short.
00:53 Come on, let's get them here. We can cheer them along, boys and girls.
00:57 Look at these ducks here. There are thousands of them.
01:00 He names this part for the duck race today, the Venter Forster Valley duck race here.
01:04 He names this part 2024.
01:07 Eagerly we await all these ducks. People are now running to get a better vantage at the finish line.
01:12 Please be careful around the finishing area.
01:15 They're all going to get caught and return to captivity.
01:20 They are coming down the river in swathes of yellow ducks.
01:25 Lots of them here.
01:28 The duck assistants are in the river.
01:35 They're always with their assistance.
01:38 Please be really careful in the water.
01:44 Come on, everybody. There's plenty of ducks here.
01:50 I thought the boys and girls would all be cheering when they see these ducks.
01:54 They're excited and shouting, "Come on!"
01:58 Come on, everybody.
02:05 Come on, everybody.
02:08 Come on, everybody.
02:11 Come on, everybody.
02:14 Thousands and thousands of ducks in the water today.
02:34 Well done. Great.
02:37 Thank you for all the support for this event.
02:41 People have been up at the start.
03:00 Now heading down to the finishing area because they wanted to see the ducks start and finish.
03:04 The finish area very busy at this time.
03:07 Lots of people up to this step.
03:09 And lots of activity down there.
03:12 Let's have a bit of a cheer for the ducks. One, two, three.
03:20 Hey, what a fantastic job the friends of Port of Alley have done getting this duck race here.
03:25 Wonderful to see it so well supported.
03:28 The results, as we said, when we get the official results, will be published online.
03:33 Using the Friends of Port of Alley website.
03:37 And I guess there may be links to that on their Facebook and other social media platforms.
03:42 If you've got pictures of the day of the ducks, then why not send them back to the Friends of Port of Alley?
03:49 Maybe via their Facebook page.
03:51 I'd love to see them. I'm not sure whether they've gone Instagram or not yet of Friends of Port of Alley.
03:56 But they may have.
03:57 So if they've gone Instagram, get your pictures up there and send them along.
04:01 It will be a wonderful day.
04:03 And you could share those pictures via some of those social media platforms.
04:10 But ducks are still coming down the river to the finish line as we speak.
04:15 There are hundreds of them.
04:17 Thanks to the guys and the girls in the river who have been catching them and making sure that they make it over the rapids and down to the finish line.
04:26 The ones who are getting stuck in the bushes.
04:28 So well done to the teams with the sticks. The kids with sticks have been great.
04:33 Please take care in the water and on the mud.