THOUSANDS of people turned out to enjoy a Soapbox Derby.

The annual event, held yesterday at the Sun Corner, Billericay, is organised by the Rotary Club of Billericay and sees teams of people create unusual and colourful vehicles to race in the event.

Trevor Bond, 82, a spokesman for the Rotary Club of Billericay, said: “The whole event went really well.

“The weather was gorgeous and we had a bigger crowd than before.

“Everyone really enjoyed themselves and had a great time.

“There was a great effort made by all the teams who entered the race, who all created colourful and inventive and the racing was good.

“We had a beer tent and an ice-cream tent which were both very popular with visitors on the day.”

The past two years have seen the event attended by over 13,000 people and raised more than £20,000 for international and national Rotary supported charities and local schools.

The crowds whooped and cheered as the different teams and vehicles took to the course in the Bank Holiday sunshine.

Entries were limited to three categories, including corporate (police, fire, institutions, shops, industry), student (schools, colleges) and wacky racers (creative soapboxes).

For more information about the event visit the Rotary Club’s website at www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/.

l See tomorrow’s Echo for a list of winners.