3:19pm Thursday 23rd August 2007
By Lewis Cowen
Teams of eight people, paddling inflatable dinghies across lock pounds on the Kennet and Avon canal at Caen Hill in Devizes, then dragging them across the banks in between sounds like a crazy way of raising money for charity.
But between 1985 and 1994 that was the idea of Boto-X, which caught the imagination of communities far beyond the town and raised thousands of pounds for various charities.
The race was the brainchild of John Petty, chairman of the Devizes branch of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust.
The concept of the race was simple - teams of eight would race against each other and the clock, paddling over the water and then manhandling the dinghies, loaned by Avon Rubber at Melksham, over the intervening banks.
Four of the team took the dinghy down over five pounds and banks, then the fitter four would paddle and manhandle the dinghy back up to the start line.
Teams were asked to gather in sponsorship money and deliver the amount collected when they reported for their race.
At stake was not only the honour of winning the event, but a trophy was on offer for the team raising the most sponsorship per minute of time it took to complete the course.
A slower team with more sponsorship was, therefore, in with a chance of a trophy.
The first Boto-X took place in June 1985 and the weather was not kind. The rain was constant throughout the Saturday, turning the banks into a good imitation of the Somme, and it was not a lot better on the Sunday.
Nevertheless, 80 teams competed, from the canal trust, the Grand Union Canal Society, doctors and pharmacists, Scouts and Rangers, schools, pubs, local firms and the Services, all of whom loved the event and were raring to do it again the following year.
Some of the names were memorable. The local British Waterways team was known as The Duckweeds and Fwagadas always caused puzzlement.
It is, in fact, the letters of two conservation advisory groups - Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and ADAS.
The news quickly got about and by 1990 there were 150 teams competing, including one led by the late Duchess of Beaufort, who laughed like a drain when she fell in the water and emerged like a muddy mermaid.
Apart from 1992, when the race had to be cancelled because of lack of water in the canal - this was in the days before the pumping station at Foxhangers - Boto-X continued earning money for charity right up to 1994, raising £130,000.
In 1994, £10,000 was raised, shared out amongst CLIC, Victim Support Wiltshire, Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Bath Hospital's children's ward and the Bristol Children's Renal Unit.
But in 1995, the organisers failed to find a major sponsor and, with the uncertainty that caused, not enough teams signed up.
The lay-off sounded the death knell for the event and it is unlikely that health and safety legislation or insurance premiums will allow anything similar ever to take place again.
But Boto-X has been immortalised in a plaque on a lock close to the top of Caen Hill, one of the parts of the Kennet and Avon Canal that benefited from the wackiest race in town.
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