THE 60th anniversary of the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race will be marked by a special ale brewed by Wadworth.

The Devizes based family brewery has agreed to make a beer to co-incide with the event which takes place over the Easter weekend.

Keith Bennett, the organiser of the Devizes section of the gruelling race, told Devizes Town Council last week that plans were well under way for the event.

He said: "Wadworth is going to make a special beer for the 60th anniversary. It will be a light beer and will be a great boost for us."

Mr Bennett said for the first time in about ten years the award ceremony would be held in Devizes.

The ceremony is normally held in Reading but next year it will be at Devizes Corn Exchange on May 24.

He said there was already a lot of interest from people wanting to compete in the 125 mile race, taking place between March 21-24.

"Last year we had over 430 competitors. So far we have had more entries than we normally do at this time of the year and we hope it will be a bumper year," he said.

The event takes paddlers to the limit of mental and physical endurance in what is the longest non-stop kayaking marathon in the world.