Most people spend New Year's Day recovering from the night before. However, this is not the case in the Irish town of Castlecomer, where practically the whole village turns out for the annual Wellington boot race.

January 1st 2007 marked the 27th annual Wellie race and a large number of people joined in for the event, which raises money for local charities.

There are strict rules and regulations for the event, which state that the only appropriate footwear is the good old Wellington boot – and cut off wellies don't count!

The race is run over a five kilometre route that has been faithfully followed every New Year's Day since 1981.

Locals first came up with the idea of a Wellington boot race as a way for locals to shed a few Christmas pounds but now, with sponsorship and donations reaching more than 35,000 Euros in 2006, it has become a very important charity event.

Michael Brennan, chairman of the Wellington Race Committee, said: "We have about 34 applications for funds raised already and we normally try and give something to everyone once they are a genuine case.

"We don't set a target for what we raise as we just hope for the best – we have always been very successful. We have a good run on sponsorship cards this year as the schools have taken it up too.

"Our main sponsors are also very generous and we have about 30 of them so we are very lucky."