Boll McGuire

"Bathtub racing started in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The idea was conceived to showcase Nanaimo to the world, with the first races beginning with the "Nanaimo to Vancouver Great International World Championship Bathtub Race" in 1967. Frank Ney, Nanaimo's mayor at the time, was one of the largest supporters and promoters of the annual race from its establishment until his death in 1992, and was an avid participant.

He would regularly dress as a pirate and tour the town and surrounding communities. Until the 1990s, the race was held as a part of Vancouver's annual Sea Festival, a.k.a. Sea Fest, when tubbers raced from Nanaimo to Vancouver's Kitsilano Beach. With the demise of the Vancouver Marine Festival in the mid-1990s, the race now involves a course beginning and ending in Nanaimo Harbour. The current course takes the tubbers into the open waters of Georgia Strait and is currently 58 kilometres (36 mi) in length.[3] The race is held the last weekend of July every year." en.wikipedia.org ↗ (website viewed 20/09/2026);