THE good, the bad and the downright ugly made a mammoth attempt to sail down the River Dee on Sunday morning for the annual themed Rotary Club of Chester raft race.
Glorious sunshine brought huge crowds of onlookers to the riverbank and the Queen’s Park Suspension bridge to watch the sailors aboard creative home-made rafts try to make it to the weir in one piece.
The event was the 36th annual race and all money raised went to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd with the total looking to exceed £5,000.
Organiser Brian Price said: “It's amazing how a few people in the community can come together to raise a good sum of money for a local cause and have a jolly good time doing it.
The fastest raft and overall winner of the event in a record-breaking time of just under eight minutes was the entry from Sandbach Cave and Mountain Rescue skippered by Martin Smith.
Best turned-out raft was won by the magnificent Pirates of the River Dee, entered by Cheshire Waste and Skip Hire and captained by Alex Littler, whose mast only just cleared the suspension bridge
Other award winners were Tweedle Dee skippered by Martin Jones from Oddfellows, Like a Horse with Paul Jeffery from Harkers and Please Don’t Sink with Andy Pemberton from The Chester Hangman.
Best Ladies Raft was Tweedledum skippered by Latoya Gayle from Oddfellows and the winners of the school shield were Wirral Grammar with Grumpy Gringo’s Speed Machine skippered by Jayne Jones.
Sponsors of the event were Bell Developments, Cheshire Waste and Skip Hire,City Office Furniture,Cestrian Loos and Urenco from Capenhurst.
