Coniston Power Boat Records Week starts with a bang as records broken

The first day of Records Week 2024 saw a total of 37 runs with 17 records set, such as that of 13-year-old Poppy Stewart, from Lowestoft, the youngest competitor of the week.  

Poppy broke and rebroke the GT15 World and British National record, eventually settling at a top speed of 40.52mph for the day in her boat named ‘Poptastic’.  

She said: “Well, I’m happy that I’ve broken the record. So, I’m happy about that but it’s a bit tiring.” 

Poppy and her dad were pleased with her progress and will be seeking to increase her record during the week. 

Poppy Stewart (Image: Records Week/X)

“We’re going to be fine-tuning so we’ve got a number of different propellers that we’re going to try and just balance the boat differently and just get the best out of the boat and just keep at it," her dad added.

“The course is straight up and down but you can tackle it a couple of different ways and that can make a difference. We’ll just try and improve on what we’ve done."

Alison Whalley, Chairman of Records Week, praised the efforts of the team of volunteers that help make the event possible each year.  

Alison Whalley, Chairman of Records Week (Image: Dherran Titherington)

She said: “It’s a really well-honed team. There’s about 60 volunteers that come up and give their holidays to come to Record Week to help the competitors achieve records. It’s a very well-oiled team.” 

Alison teared up she discussed the joy of witnessing competitors break their records.  

She said: “It’s the beauty of the event. Seeing people achieve their lifetime’s ambition on Coniston Water where, quite often, their hero died. They all emulate Donald Campbell and they love coming to run here.” 

The Chairman strongly believes that the event is something that the UK should be proud of.  

She said: “Because of us, there are British individuals holding world records and that is very special.” 

Bob McCarthy, president of The Offshore Circuit Racing Drivers Association, travelled from South Devon, having competed in every race at Coniston over the past 18 years.  

(Image: Dherran Titherington)

On Monday, he celebrated breaking another national record at his 34th time at Records Week.  

He said: “I think a big part of it is a social event. It’s where all the varying disciplines of powerboat racing come together for the week. We have a lot of friends that we only see annually. 

“The plan was to come and get the Formula One OCR record which we have done this morning and now we’ll just pick at it and see if we can pick it up a little bit and get it to go faster. 

“My aim was 68 mph and we’ve done 70mph this morning. So, if we can get that up to 71mph or 72mph that would be quite good. We always aim high don’t we?”  

With more competitors signing up to race, the records set on day one are only the tip of the iceberg for this world-renowned event.