MONMOUTH Raft Race has received refreshing support from leading Gwent independent brewer Tiny Rebel.

Gwent-based Tiny Rebel, a family business based in Newport, has been named a sponsor for this year’s River Wye race.

Not only that, the brewer, which was named International Beer Challenge's UK Brewery of the year 2016, is planning to compete in the event with a Tiny Rebel raft.

The rapidly-expanding brewing business has just located to a 1.5 acre site in Rogerstone, complete with brewery tours, a new bar and event space.

Tiny Rebel is also the only Welsh brewery to have claimed the Champion Beer of Britain prize, which it won in 2015 for Cwtch.

Bradley Cummings, of Tiny Rebel, said: "We’ve teamed up to support St David’s Hospice Care frequently over the years. We are very pleased to have now become involved as sponsors for the Monmouth Raft Race.”

Organisers, Monmouth Rotary Club, which has staged the annual River Wye Raft race for the past 15 years, will once more raise funds for St David’s Hospice Care through the event, which this year is the 52nd and which is being staged on Sunday, September 3.

Rotary President Roger Finn said: “We are extremely grateful to Tiny Rebel Brewery signing up as sponsors for the Monmouth Raft Race and we look forward to working with them on this year’s event.

“Monmouth Rotary Club has been organising the Monmouth Raft Race for 15 years and in that time the event has gone from strength to strength. We have developed a strong bond with St David’s Hospice Care who remain the principle beneficiaries of the money raised through the event.”

Emma Saysell, chief executive of St David’s Hospice Care, said: “The continued support we get from Monmouth Rotary Club and our sponsors is truly amazing and important to us especially as our commitments will soon be considerably increased with the opening this year of the new 15-bed in patient centre in Malpas.”

Organisers are now looking to sign up more sponsors. The existing sponsors are: Mandarin Stone, DHL and David Wilson Homes

The race will start from Monmouth Rowing Club and end at Tump Farm, Whitebrook. The annual event sees teams of four or more build rafts and then paddle them 6.5 miles down the River Wye from the rowing club steps at Monmouth to Whitebrook.

Entry costs £75 per raft including a commitment to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship. Early bird entrants, who sign up before June 1st, pay just £50. For full details about the 2017 Monmouth Raft Race, including online or postal entries, please visit www.monmouthraftrace.com or call Monmouth Raft Race secretary, Rotarian David Forbes on 01600 712665 or Kris Broome at St David’s Hospice Care on 01633 851051.