JAMES Smith gained the honour of becoming the first person to win the World Pooh Sticks Championships in Witney.

The 36-year-old quantity surveyor, from Long Hanborough, beat competition from about 600 rivals to take first place in the competition on Sunday.

Those taking part dropped their coloured sticks off one side of a bridge over the River Windrush.

The sticks were then collected by volunteers in a canoe on the other side of the bridge, who determined which stick made it there quickest.

Mr Smith’s victory was marked by Rotary Thames Valley District governor Tim Cowling, who presented him with a plaque and a certificate.

The Rotary Club of Oxford Spires organised the event with the help of Witney Rotary Club and Cogges Manor Farm museum.

Competitors at the championship paid £2 to enter, with the money to be donated to good causes.

Sunday’s championship was the first time the competition had taken place in Witney, having been staged at Day’s Lock on the River Thames in Little Wittenham, near Didcot, for the past 31 years.

Organisers said the contest had become so popular it had outgrown the previous site and the move to the Windrush would also mean it could be held in the summer. The event was first run in 1984 when lock keeper Lynn David organised it after watching people play the game made famous in the children’s book Winnie the Pooh.

The championships were used to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Oxford Spires group took over organising the event in 2009.

The RNLI was on site again this year and set up a bouncy castle as well as organising a toffee and fudge sale along with other stalls to raise funds for their life-saving work.

Last year’s event was won by Simon Critchley, from Harwell near Didcot.