Pictures: Shrewsbury World Coracle Championship makes a splash

Shrewsbury's Pengwern Boatclub played host to the Macmillan World Coracle Championship, with 36 teams of four taking part in the wacky waterbound contest.

And, for once, the weather was kind as beaming sunshine and temperatures touching 70F helped make the event once to remember.

The competition involved heats of six teams battling to make it back and forth across the river in the fastest time.

Some people taking part wore wigs or viking hats, while the healthy crowd roared their approval – all the more so with every competitor who ended up in the river.

The contest, which is expected to raise as much as £25,000 for Macmillan, had started with with a buzz of life-jacket-clad tension, soon giving way to frantic paddling that while lacking in technique, certainly made up for it in sheer effort.

The event also brought plenty of colour to the Severn, with the traditional craft decorated as part of the contest.

Verity Criddle was one of the intrepid coraclers who was taking part in the contest with her employer Brewin Dolphin.

Fresh from her own efforts she said the event had proved much harder than it looked, with one of her team having to be fetched by the speedboat safety team after getting caught in the breezy conditions.

She said: "It was good fun but unfortunately a gust of wind scuppered our chances. We were winning at the beginning by a gust of wind took one of our team off down the river."

The winning Team from the first heat was Flex IT, veterans of the competition who romped home with a comprehensive victory.

Team captain Simon Davies said: "We have done it for eight years and it is great fun. Everyone gets involved in the local community and it is just a really good day out. It doesn't matter if you come first or not it is just a good time and we get to raise a lot of money for a really good cause."

Ian Bowker, part of the Manby Bowdler team was the first in the water, having slipped while attempting to set a colleague off on a flying start.

He said: "Matt told me to push Mark off and I just slipped and fell in."

The Greenhous team also endured some difficulties on their crossing, with Derek Passant, joint chief executive of the firm, completely capsizing his coracle - although there was some speculation as to whether it had been a deliberate effort to raise more money.

He said: "It was very wet, but very exciting and it is for a good cause."

"If I went in the water some people said they would give me double in sponsorship."

Helen Knight, MacMillan fundraising manager for Shropshire said it had been a fantastic day for the charity.

She said: "Today is all about raising money for Shropshire and the coracle has been going for a number of years.

"We have had 36 teams entered and we are hoping to raise £25,000, and all that will be spent in the county."