Soggy day hits Ironbridge Coracle Regatta turnout
Miserable weather may have kept the crowds away - but it didn't stop dozens of competitors taking to the River Severn for a soggy Ironbridge Coracle Regatta.
About 30 people from across the country descended on Ironbridge to take part in the annual regatta, despite heavy rain throughout yesterday's event.
Understandably the rain hit crowd numbers, which fell from thousands last year to the low hundreds. Charity collections were also down on last year and organisers packed up the event an hour earlier than planned because of the adverse weather.
Gerwyn Lewis, one of the organisers, said: "The weather was terrible but people kept going through the worst of conditions.
"It is a shame the rain was so bad and there was a reasonably good turnout considering. I have to give credit to the spectators for sticking with it. The competitors will always be there but the fact so many spectators turned up and stuck with it is really quite remarkable.
"It is a great fun event and has built up a following over more than 20 years and has become really well established."
Euan Raffel of national group the Coracle Society, said: "It went well all things considered. It was pretty miserable weather and we had a good turnout despite that.
"There were a lot of people in the water and was a good day, well attended and we are happy. As an event it works in bad weather as the competitors will get wet anyway so a bit of rain does not stop anyone from getting in a coracle. The fact it rained probably stopped others getting in the water so we often get the river to ourselves.
"Ironbridge is one of our biggest events of the year, it is one of the last major events of the season as well so it is usually well attended and it has got that history which helps it. We are hoping for better weather next year on the 25th anniversary of the Coracle Society and we are really hoping to celebrate it."
This was the last year the event was organised by the Green Wood Centre, with the newly formed Ironbridge Coracle Trust set to take on the running of the traditional August bank holiday event next year. Ironbridge Lions also supported this years event, organising the car parking and stalls.
