FUNDRAISERS braved inclement weather conditions to raft 75 miles down the River Wye for charity over the weekend.

Despite heavy rain 22 teams took to the water for a three day race from Hay-on-Wye to Huntsham Bridge near Goodrich on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday.

Organiser Patricia Hales said it was the worst weather she had seen in 30 years of the annual event, adding: “It was exceptionally windy on the Saturday and Saturday night the rain started, and it was absolutely gruelling.”

But she said rafters pulled together to complete the course with only four teams failing to make the finish line.

Ross-on-Wye team Chevron emerged victorious in the 2008 race, which has raised more than £3million for the Committee for Herefordshire Amateur Rafters’ (CHAR) charity the Plynlimon Trust over the years.

The committee also presented Ms Hales with a trophy inscribed by members of the rafting community in recognition of her “inspired leadership” in staging the weekend since it started in 1978 as a bet between two pubs.

She said: “For Herefordshire to have had this event 30 years, to keep an event like this on the River Wye, is an incredible feat.”

Previous entrants have been known to enter from as far as Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa.