SUPERHEROES, nurses, penguins and old ladies were just some of the colourful characters competing in a fun sporting event which returned to Presteigne.

After a 30-year absence the town’s wheelbarrow race returned and has been deemed a huge success and will become a regular date in the diary.

The wheelbarrow race attracted 31 entries on Friday (July 13) after it was revived to become a great addition to the town’s carnival weekend.

The race started at the leisure centre, and went through Hereford Street and the High Street before finishing just past the Oak.

There were several stops along the way at the pubs for a drink of the landlord’s choice.

Organisers Dale Gorman and Owen Davies said: “It was a massive success. We had 31 wheelbarrows, the majority of them were fancy dress, three or four wore handmade costumes which were very funny and a couple of entries took part to race and win.”

The winners of the fancy dress competition were Jordan Pritchard and David Mather, who were dressed as nurses.

The fastest men’s team was Lem Griffiths and Gwilym Davies and the fastest women’s team was Cassie Preece and Kirsty Gorman.

The wheelbarrow event was very popular in the town until 1981 when it was scrapped, after a revival organised by the Young Farmers Club from the late 1980’s until 1991, the event was lost again.

On both occasions it seemed that health and safety concerns were the reason for its end.

Dale and Owen added: “The crowds that came out to support it were unbelievable and at the finish line there must have been about 200 people. It was a very good start to the carnival weekend and we will definitely be running it again next year and hopefully with more warning about it, we will have even more people taking part.

“We have raised £382 during the event which will be split between the Carnival and the Presteigne Firefighters Charity Challenge. We would like to thank our sponsors Holters and BCM Builds and everyone who took part or helped and everyone who came out to watch it.”