UPTON Rowing Club's main event of the year has been cancelled due to bad weather for the second year in a row.

The Upton Head was due to take place on the River Severn on Saturday (January 10), but heavy rain made the river unsuitable for the 80 boats expected to take part.

Fog caused the cancellation of the event in 2003.

The chairman of Upton Rowing Club, Peter Barker, said he was disappointed but that it was too risky to run the event.

"We've put a lot of work into it but were able to cancel food and that kind of thing," he said. "Our actual costs haven't been too bad but it's obviously very disappointing.

"The river conditions over Christmas period would have been fine but the one day the river levels came up and that was it. We can't do anything else from a safety point of view."

The main event had been due to take place in the morning over a four-and-a-half-mile course from Clevelode to Upton Bridge. A three-mile event was scheduled for the afternoon. Both were to have bee conducted on a time-trial basis.

Mr Barker said rescheduling would have been extremely difficult because of the busy timetables of other clubs.

The event is planned for the same weekend in 2005.