BROMYARD’S Hop Festival is back for 2017, and a local brewery is challenging rivals to race against its team in the town’s unique Hop Pocket World Championship race.

Teme Valley Brewery have thrown down the gauntlet to other craft brewers to join in a special new brewers’ challenge race.

The race is the only one of its kind in the world, specially invented when the Hop Festival began in 2011.

In the past, it has attracted crowds estimated at around 5,000 to the town’s Broad Street and High Street. Teams of four run through the town carrying a full hop-sack weighing 70kg.

The main race is open to all classes, and there are also ladies and junior races with a lighter sack. This year for the first time there is a fancy dress race.

The all-day programme of events on Sunday, August 27, also includes a children’s scooter race, a vintage vehicle parade through the streets, an arts and craft market, rural crafts demonstrations, a sale of hop-bine products, and live bands in the town’s Market Square.

As well as the racing, the day-long festival celebrates the market town's long standing link to hop-growing, dating back to 1577.

In the hop growing hey-day of the late 20th century, hundreds of people from South Wales, the Midlands and the Black Country would travel to Bromyard to work on the hop harvest.

Times have changed but, with the rise of craft brewing, Herefordshire remains the largest hop producing area in the UK.

To sign up for the race, visit bromyardhopfestival.co.uk.