Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury river race cancelled due to fast water flow

Quick water flow was to blame for the scrapping of this year's Shrewsbury Masters Severn Mile swimming race for the first time in its history.

Published
The Severn Mile competitors in 2017

The event organisers said the decision not to go ahead with the open water race was taken on safety grounds following advice from the Environment Agency.

Bernard Wills, chairman of Shrewsbury Masters, said: "We made the decision to cancel it on Saturday due to the water speed, purely on safety grounds. The river was flowing far too quickly and it was not safe for the our support canoes to be out there.

"We had more than 200 people attending from all over the country so we felt we had to tell people early that it was being cancelled. We believe most of those people got the message before they set off."

Two years ago the event was reduced to just the 700m category due to rising water levels also on safety grounds.

The event which started 12 years ago sees swimmers get in the River Severn at Welsh Bridge and then make their way downstream.