A WET and rainy day did not dampen the spirits of the 244 people taking part in this year's charity Jail Break event in Worcester.

Almost 60 teams took part in the fund-raiser, playing escaped prisoners, who were escorted from the city to a secret destination and left to make their own way back.

Jail Break 2007 saw the teams being dropped in Weston-Super-Mare this morning, and they had to use their ingenuity to get back to the racecourse in the quickest possible time - without using any money.

First team over the line were The Gloworms. Brothers Matthew Wurmli, aged 23, Karl 25 and Dominic, 20 from Barbourne, and father Marc, aged 50 from Malvern, who made it back in just under two and-a-half hours and raised £600.

They managed to get a lift from former Jail Breaker Barbara Righton in Hereford.

Marc said: "We couldn't believe it, we never thought we would get a lift."

Mrs Righton, who lives in Hereford said she had taken part in the event for ten years and wanted to help again this year.

"I said I wanted to go down and help. I couldn't leave any jailbreakers out in this weather," she added.

Second team over the line were the Mud Rucking Mothers of Hereford, who managed to persuade a motorist on his way to Wales to take a detour.

And third across the line were the Custard Chuckers from Hereford who raised £580. They asked a man who was at a petrol station for a lift and he agreed to take them to the motorway.

"He was just going to take us to the M5 where we knew we would be stuck. But he then agreed to take us all the way. He was meant to be going to do some shopping in Weston," said team member Kieron Reading.

Organiser Phil Smith said he did not know how much money they had yet made out of the day, but all the money would be kept in the two counties.

He praised the enthusiasm of the people taking part and all those helping with the event - but said he was slightly disappointed in the weather.

"We were supposed to have a marquee but they refused to come because it was raining. But we can't do anything about the weather. The spirit of the teams was fantastic and that couldn't have been better."

Worcester deputy mayor Lucy Hodgson thanked everyone for taking part and for their hard work.

The main beneficiary of the event will be Hereford Macmillan Cancer Appeal. The County Air Ambulance and Hereford and Worcester Animal Rescue will also receive donations.

The fund-raiser was revived after a seven year break by Mr Smith, aged 52, from Queen Elizabeth Road, Malvern, in memory of a friend, Christopher Gibbs, also of Malvern, who died in April last year. It was first held in 1990 and was the creation of two Herefordshire police officers, Ron Davies and Grenville Smith, known affectionately as The Governors.