At the height of the crisis keen canoeist Simon helped deliver emergency supplies paid for by WDP readers to stricken estates in Tewkesbury which had been cut off by floods, and at the time the biggest problem for the crew had been torrential rain and flooded cars blocking the main road.

This time around it was the sheer distance of the course as none of the team, which also included Denis Reed from Bristol-based National Mobile Windscreens and 16-year-old Taunton student Hannah Davies, had paddled more than three miles at a stretch before.

Simon said: "We had a press release from Colt Cars about the event and I thought it would be a great way to add our support to the relief efforts.

"We set off fairly smoothly and got ahead of most of the pack, but the Johnny Depp lookalikes in the pirate canoe were alot faster than us and opened up a huge lead.

"I thought they'll never keep that up for nine miles given the fact they couldn't coordinate their strokes to save their lives, but all credit to them, they did."

Eventual winners were the Cirencester Bodyshop team, aka Leggies All Stars.