Thousands flock to Wild and Woolly

Thousands of spectators turned out for the 82nd annual motorcycle mudfest, the Wild and Woolly motorbike scramble, in Blisworth, South Northamptonshire on Boxing Day.

However, this year's competition proved an upset for record-breaking eight-times Wild and Woolly champion, Ryan Griffiths, after clutch failure dashed his hopes of winning the world's oldest off-road race for the ninth time.

The stunt rider from Oundle, who has competed for the last 15 years, was pipped to the post according to provisional results by Richard Main, leaving the father-of-two unsure of his future in the annual event.

Mr Griffiths, who broke both ankles and his jaw in 2004 in a world-record stunt attempt, said: "You can't win them all. In the later stages, my clutch went and it got worse and worse for the last three or four laps.