THE sun shone on the 69 crews who took part in the 53rd Monmouth Raft Race, which was held on Sunday (2nd September).

Recent rain had brought the river up to an optimum level for rafting. A large crowd assembled to view the rafts prior to the start, with some crews having travelled from as far away as Rugby and Barnsley to take part.

David Evans described the scene as the rafts entered the water and prepared to set off and Mayor of Monmouth Councillor Terry Christopher was on hand at Monmouth Rowing Club to give the start signal at 12pm.

Several hundred spectators crowded the Wye Bridge and adjoining banks to cheer the rafts on their way. There was a similar response at the midway point at Redbrook.

The course took the crews six miles down river to the finish at Whitebrook, where the Cullimore family had again kindly given permission to use their fields. The winning crews took just 1 hour 20 minutes to cover the distance, whilst others took a more leisurely approach and needed almost four hours. Nevertheless, all rafters had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the event.

A festival was set up at the finish including traditional stalls, fairground rides, burgers, a hog roast, Kingstone brewery beer, and live music provided by The Forfeits to entertain the rafters and spectators, whilst results were calculated.

Over 2,000 people attended and enjoyed the festival, surrounded by the wonderful scenery of the Wye valley.

The proceeds of the raft race will be split between St David’s Foundation Hospice Care (receiving 75 per cent) and other charities supported by Rotary Monmouth. St David’s Foundation Hospice Care’s fundraising director Kris Broome presented the category winning rafts with their awards and thanked them, and all other participants, for their tremendous efforts and support. He also thanked Rotary Monmouth for organising the event.

Rotary Monmouth president, Patrick Chatterton, also thanked the crews for taking part as well as their supporters, and gave a special thanks to the festival stall holders who helped to make it such a successful event.

The overall winner was raft number 136, “Abandon Ship 1X” in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes. The award for most sponsorship handed in on the day (£1,420) went to raft number 108, “Henson’s Heroes” entered by Neil Henson. Full results are available on line at www.monmouthraftrace.com

Monmouth Rotary meets each Wednesday evening. If you would like to help out, or take part in events, or would like to know more about Rotary in Monmouth contact Nagi El Bay at [email protected] or visit www.monmouthrotaryclub.com

For more pictures from this year’s Monmouth Raft Race, see this week’s Monmouthshire and Chepstow Beacon, in shops from Wednesday 5th September.