THE 48th annual Monmouth Raft Race is all gearing up to be the biggest and best ever staged.

Last year was among the most successful ever held in terms of the amount of cash raised and organisers say initial indications are that 2013 could be even better.

The annual River Wye race, organised by The Rotary Club of Monmouth, saw a bumper flotilla of sixty rafts take to the waters in September last year, after the wettest summer for 100 years.

The resulting high water made for quick times with the overall winning raft number 155 "Light It Up", entered by Leigh Woodington and sponsored by C.U. Lighting, cruising home in a time of 45.24 minutes.

A total of £19,311 was raised by the 2012 event with 75 per cent of this amount, £14,483, going to the main nominated charity St David's Hospice Care. The remainder of the money was donated by The Rotary Club of Monmouth to aid a variety of other local charities.

Monmouth Rotarian Norman Williams said: "We're thrilled to have Mandarin Stone and Kymin as sponsors, and delighted to have the support of Module IT. Both Kymin and Module IT entered teams in last years' raft race, and it's great to have them helping us this year.

"The 2012 Monmouth raft race was a huge success and we're now targeting the 2013 event to be bigger and even better.

"We will be using social media, twitter and face book for example, a lot more this year, to keep people abreast of developments and hopefully attract even more people to enter this fabulous, fun annual event. Perhaps in 2013 we can reach the magic target of 100 entries mark."

Kris Broome, of St David's Hospice Care, said: "We were absolutely thrilled that last year's event was again such a great success and we're now hoping to build on that even further with the 2013 outing.

"This year's Monmouth Raft Race will be staged on Sunday, 1st September and as ever early entries from teams are always very welcome. In fact online entries in April and May qualify for an "early bird discount".

"We'd like to thank Monmouth Rotary for organising such a superb event in 2012 and also the hardy souls, many of whom return year after year, for building such fantastic rafts, assembling their crews, gathering sponsorship and then taking part in the raft race."

The Monmouth Raft Race starts at Monmouth Rowing Club and ends at Tump Farm six-and-a-half miles down river at Whitebrook.