SADLY last year’s River Dart Sponsored Struggle, the annual charity white-water race from Buckfastleigh to Totnes, was cancelled due to... a lack of river water.

A trawl through the archive pictures from the late 1970s and early 1980s means we can offer up a look at the raft races from the past.

Bobbing along nicely - Boatwreck , a raft from Liverton, sails serenely through the shallows towards the finish line in 1979
Bobbing along nicely - Boatwreck , a raft from Liverton, sails serenely through the shallows towards the finish line in 1979 (MDA Archive)

From 1982 and it’s full steam ahead for the Dart Valley Express as they ride out the rapids on Staverton Weir
From 1982 and it’s full steam ahead for the Dart Valley Express as they ride out the rapids on Staverton Weir (MDA Archive)

Flights of fancy in 1979 as Chopper Squad fly with ease over Salmon Leap Weir
Flights of fancy in 1979 as Chopper Squad fly with ease over Salmon Leap Weir (MDA Archive)

Marc Bolan may have chosen to ride a white swan but in 1981 Tony and Ron Coxall from Kingsteignton decide to ride a giant grasshopper by the name of Wota Hopper
Marc Bolan may have chosen to ride a white swan but in 1981 Tony and Ron Coxall from Kingsteignton decide to ride a giant grasshopper by the name of Wota Hopper (MDA Archive)

The two remaining crew members of the good ship Launa Windows begin their search for their missing third crewmate, who presumably was bobbing along gently as he went with the flow in 1982
The two remaining crew members of the good ship Launa Windows begin their search for their missing third crewmate, who presumably was bobbing along gently as he went with the flow in 1982 (MDA Archive)

Where peaceful waters flow - or not in the case of the 1982 event. Here a crew tackle the notorious raft-eating Salmon Leap Weir at Buckfastleigh with a sideways -on approach.
Where peaceful waters flow - or not in the case of the 1982 event. Here a crew tackle the notorious raft-eating Salmon Leap Weir at Buckfastleigh with a sideways -on approach. (MDA Archive)