Annual Bradenton River Regatta welcomes over 100k visitors

BRADENTON, Fla. - The 9th Annual Bradenton River Regatta welcomed more than 100,000 visitors on Saturday as Manatee County's largest free spectator event.

Organizers closed down the Green Bridge, where Business US 41 is located, to allow visitors to watch the races. Meanwhile, events on the Downtown Bradenton and Palmetto sides of the bridge took place all day long.

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"We've got some fabulous tribute bands," Michael Dongilli, Executive Vice President of ISM USA said. "There's kid's zones on both sides of the river. We've got the always famous frisbee dogs and a separate dog show at the amphitheater. We've got circus performers over there."

The races were separated by powerboat.

"The first one is SST45. These are a bit smaller boats. They only run about 80 to 90 miles per hour on the straightaway," he said. "But most people come out here to watch the F2 powerboats and their speeds can go from 120 to 125 miles per hour."

The top three F2 drivers in the league competed.

"To watch these crafts go out, they hit 4Gs in a turnaround. There's no brakes on these boats it's all throttle controlled," he said.

James Klein and the Half Fast Racing Team traveled all the way from Michigan to compete.

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"This is always our first race of the year. We always like to come down, get the kinks out," he shared.

Klein raced in a kneel-down boat. 

"The kneel down boats, you're kneeling down, and you're on about ¼ inch of plywood, and you're going about 70 miles per hour," said Klein.

"The whole idea of the event is to showcase the vibrancy in this location," said Dongilli.

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