Crafty Craft a success but Jo Brand disqualified

The organisers said that this year's festival was a big success, despite Jo Brand being disqualified for being towed

THIS year's Crafty Craft race was brought to a close when the final gun sounded at 3.30pm this afternoon (Monday), with celebrity guest Jo Brand disqualified for cheating.

The comedienne's team, What Larks, was the last vessel to cross the finishing line before the cut-off time of 3.30pm - but they were promptly informed that they were disqualified for being towed part of the way by the boat that carried their filming crew.

Jo Brand said: “It went very well because we cheated massively! We were towed for most of the way and we were discovered and disqualified, but I don't really mind about that, I'm quite pleased that we didn't have to work too hard.”

Her team's disqualification was no surprise however, as her priority on the day was not to compete in the race, but rather to film a documentary for the television channel Dave.

The documentary will take a look at the relationship of the British people with water and will be called Jo Brand's Big Splash. It will appear on the channel later this year.

One of the organisers of Crafty Craft, Marcus Franks, of Newbury Roundtable, said towards the end of the afternoon: “The day was a big success, we had quite a lot of entries and a lot of people turned out in the park and it looks as if they are enjoying themselves.”

He said that 41 vessels entered the race this year, a record in recent times. The weather also played along and there was a festival atmosphere near the finishing line in Victoria Park throughout the day, with stalls, live music and a fun fair providing entertainment.

The prizes were as follows:

• Overall slowest time: HMS Titanic

• Company Category: Briars Dental Centre

• Adult Category: Hungerford Hounds

• Junior Craft: Rock Apes

• Junior Prefab: Bart Street Kids

• Women: Hungerford Mongrels

• Adult Best Craft: Pedal Powered Pilots

• Adult Fancy Dress: HMS Ark Royal (Decommissioned)

• Junior Fancy Dress: The Royal Cards

• Junior Best Craft: Inkpen and Kintbury Scouts

• Spirit of Crafty Craft: The Inflatable Guard

• Fastest Pedalled: Scooby Doo

More coverage, including video and more pictures, will be available here on Newburytoday.co.uk and this week in the Newbury Weekly News.