It’s been hailed as a roaring success with £8,000 raised for charity and now plans are being made to stage the Bury St Edmunds Soapbox Challenge again next year.
Fourteen teams took part in the inaugural race which was watched by crowds lining the route along Mount Road.
And with such a postive response to the event it is being planned to run again next year on August 31.
Organised by the My WiSH Charity, which supports the West Suffolk Hospital, its fundraising manager Sue Smith said: “It was such a great event and the soapboxes were just incredible.
“But we will want to get more teams involved in next year’s event and they look like they will be bigger and better.
“We had everything from a green duck to Hong Kong Phooey. Each team was scored on best presentation (dance), best soapbox and fastest time.
The winners were: Best Presentation, sponsored by Curve Motion, H S Direct; Best Soapbox, sponsored by Coastline Graphic, Sealeys; Fastest Time, sponsored by Moreton Hall Health Club, Spiral Hardwear; and Overall Champion, sponsored by RBA Solution, The White Horse at Whepstead. The judges were Stephen Dunn, chief executive of West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, Jan Bloomfield, executive director of workforce and communications, and Jo Churchill, the Bury St Edmunds MP.
The event was held to help boost the funds of the charity’s Every Heart Matters appeal which is aiming to raise £500,000 to help create a fully integrated cardiac centre at the West Suffolk Hospital.
The White Horse entry managed to raise £2,000 towards the total with their entry appropriately named Frankel and team member Graham Anstey said: “We got together to build up the soapbox and put a lot of effort into the event and in the end it was a great team effort.
“It was an absolutely fantastic event and it was a great atmosphere and was so well organised and we had so many companies and firms who sponsored us that we want to thank them all.
“We have got to come back next year to hold on to our trophy and I should think that there will be more entries as we have already started thinking about various designs so Frankel will be back,” he said.
The team consisted of driver Mark Shaw, the owner of The White Horse Lee Saunders, Richard Gleed, Steve Ebens, Josh Barrysmith and Graham.
The 250-metre course consisted of a ramp and a chicane with a total of two runs taking place.
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