After a two year hiatus the Inverurie Raft Race returned to the River Don on Saturday, drawing crowds to Kembhill Park in Kemnay for the start and Davidson Park in Inverurie for the finish.

The 41st running of the event was organised by Inverurie Scout Group with Alehousewells Primary PTA running the pre-race duck race, food provision and stalls in Kemnay.

The finish saw those coming along to watch entertained with a bouncy castle and bubble footballs along with a much needed ice cream van on the wonderfully sunny day along with raffle and stalls.

The Scout Group took over the reigns from the now dissolved Lion’s Club back in 2019 and this year's event proved another resounding success with 18 rafts taking part.

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Leading home the vessels was the two man crewed Shallow AL who completed the course in 1hour and 34 minutes, closely followed by the No10's Party Boat in 1hr 38 minutes and whose crew claimed the award for most fundraising.

Making it home on the two hour mark were the Ghostbusters team whose Ecto 1 was the largest raft to take to water.

There were also prizes for best dressed raft which went to Ship Happens, which was created a team from GPH Builder's Merchants in Inverurie and the best dressed crew was presented to Barley Afloat, an Alice in Wonderland themed team specially created for 15-year-old Erin Sharpe from Pitcaple's birthday which was taking place the following day.

Aberdeenshire Provost Judy Whyte who attended the event and presented the prizes said: "It was fantastic to see so many people turning out to support the event both in Kemnay and Inverurie as well as along the route.

"The effort put in by the teams has been fantastic and everyone has had a really enjoyable time."

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