Polish picker Rofol Pochwata has been named fastest picker at the Tiptree Strawbery Race 2016.
The annual competition took place at the strawberry grower and processor Wilkin & Sons’ Bounds Farm, and saw over 60 pickers of all ages race to collect as many Little Scarlet strawberries as possible in one hour.
Winner Pochwata picked 4.4 kg, which although not a record was still hailed as “a supreme effort in difficult conditions”. Runner up was Raluca Grigoruta from Romania.
All picked fruit was put in the chilled van and taken for processing into jam.
Pickers were dressed in brightly-coloured hats and costumes to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday and to raise money for the Tiptree village pensioners lunch and the Royal British Legion.
Chairman Peter Wilkin also presented four long-serving pickers with special awards, including Pat and Steve Bembridge on their 50th wedding anniversary, and Julie and Robert Eddington who were celebrating their 40th.
“I would like to thank everyone for taking part, including our guest teams from Barclays and Dummett Copp. This June has been one of the wettest on record with over nine inches of rain so far, our average annual rainfall is only 20 inches per year,” said Wilkin & Sons director, Chris Newenham.
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