A LARGE crowd lined Minehead harbour on Sunday for the traditional two raft races – serious and fancy dress – which attracted entrants from all over the West Country.

The races, previously from Blue Anchor to Minehead, are now held within Minehead Bay for safety reasons.

They are held as part of Minehead Harbour Festival:"It was a really cracking event,” said Jim Whittaker, chairman of the RNLI harbour festival committee.

“It will certainly be a challenge to make next year’s any better, but we start planning the 2018 festival next week!

Raft race and harbour festival pictures, reports and results are in this week’s Free Press (August 18).