BBC says Salford Quays duck race will kick-off Children in Need

The Salford Quays duck race has started off the fundraising week for Children in Need.

A rubber duck named Tim Beake took first place at ‘Pudsey’s Quacky Races’ on Monday at Salford Quays as part of a Children in Need fundraising event.

The duck race was the first of many fundraising activities taking place this week in aid of the charity.

Salford Quays duck race — Having a day out: Children in Need mascots Blush Bear and Pudsey

Twenty ducks took to the water for the contest, each with their own comical name.

Marketing Planner at BBC Children in Need, Andy Unsworth said that they had a unique temperament to match.

He said: “There’s 20 ducks in total, all with their own personalities and their own attributes, skill sets and their own design traits as you can see.”

The rubber rivals were designed over the summer as part of the charity’s national fundraising kit.

Mr Unsworth added: “When you get a fundraising kit you can purchase a duck for the sweepstake and then there is a version of the race that is going out on social media where everyone can take part and there’ll be a different winner for that.

It's everyone's favourite duck astronaut… Tim Beake ??

Organise a sweepstake with our poster ➡️ https://t.co/xwSevtBRrN #CiN pic.twitter.com/Hx3qZnkKol

— BBC Children in Need (@BBCCiN) November 12, 2017

“Tim Beake won today, so he came back from space and made a special appearance in duck form today to take the race by storm.”

It was a photo-finish, however, with ‘James Pond’ and ‘Firequacker’ pushing ‘Tim Beake’ all the way.

Mr Unsworth said that he hoped the Salford Quays duck race would inspire similar fundraisers across the week.

BBC Children in Need Duck Race at Salford Quays.

He explained: “We did it on Monday this week because this is Children in Need week, so lots of things happening across the country, loads of people raising money and then there’s the big appeal show on Friday night so this is a way to kick it off in the BBC and at Media City and get as many people as possible involved.”

If you want to get involved in any fundraising activities for Children in Need, or simply want to make a donation to the charity, head to BBC.co.uk/Pudsey for more information.

Take a look at our graph of the money raised by Children in Need since 1996.