Bright competitors soar and splash at Birdman event

Thousands of people have gathered for a city's first Birdman event as competitors attempt to soar across its harbour.

The spectacle in Bristol saw people in homemade contraptions try to 'fly' as far as possible from a 4.5m (14.7ft) raised platform and has raised more than £10,000 for the youth charity Grassroots Communities.

The winners of the furthest distance flown award was the Bakehouse Factory team, who called themselves the BreadEagles.

Managing director of winning team, Kate Statham, said: "We are thrilled to have been able to take part in the first ever Bristol Birdman. When we found out about the amazing work that Grassroots Communities do it was the 'yeast' we could do."

There were multiple splashes during the event with many of those taking part simply dropping off the end of the platform to cheers from the crowd.

Founder, Ben Carpenter, said: "It blows my mind how people have turned out today, there are people everywhere you look. It's been amazing."

Grassroots Communities works with everyday young people aged between eight and 30 from underserved communities in Bristol.

The event attracted 10 teams from across the city, some of whom spent days making their flying machines.

All the materials had to be recycled and all the 'flyers' had to be self propelled.

As well as a prize for whoever made it the furthest, other prizes were also handed out for things like style, costumes, the flying machines themselves, and even how much of a show the teams put on before take-off.

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