Hundreds of spectators turned out to the Rising Sun pub in Gunnislake today to enjoy the village's second annual Soapbox Derby in glorious sunshine.

Youngsters kickstarted proceedings with their own mini event before adult entrants took to the course and zoomed down Calstock Road in their homemade carts which consisted of a range of designs and themes including a love shack, a dining table, a mining cart, a small steamroller and a speed racer.

This was much to the delight of the crowd, who assembled behind hay bails at the pub to cheer contestants on as they vaulted a ramp and whizzed past to the finishing point.

Names of teams who entered included: Cornish Need for Speed, Dye Another Day, Love Shack, The Flintstones, the Williamstown Flyer and Dining Out. There were prizes up for grabs for contestants who placed first and second in two categories: creativity and construction and speed.

This year, The Flintstones won first place for creativity and construction, followed by The Williamstown Flyer in a very close second place. Judges Alexandra Abel and Francesca Greaves found deciding on first and second place so difficult in this category - as they were equally as impressed - they awarded places based on speed as the deciding factor. Cornish Need for Speed won first place in the speed category after fishing in a time of 29.52 seconds, followed by Dye Another Day in second place with a time of 31.54 seconds.

Manager of the Rising Sun pub Billy Harris, who organised the event with a team of pub regulars and volunteers, said: ‘It’s just something to bring the community together. Ten years ago there was a wheelbarrow race which brought everyone together and I thought why not do something like that but a soapbox instead. We’ve had an even better turnout this year, there are at least 500 people, it’s really full up. We’ve got people from the pub, the village and all around. The success of the event means we plan to keep doing this every late May bank holiday.’

Make sure to pick up your copy of Thursday's newest edition of the Tavistock Times Gazette or Tamar Valley Times for more exclusive coverage of the event.