THE 179th Durham Regatta has been entirely cancelled, due to the dangerously high level of the River Wear through the city following the torrential weekend downpours.

It is believed to be the first time the event, the second oldest regatta in the county and older than Henley, has been completely abandoned.

The first day’s racing was called off at daybreak yesterday when the heavy overnight surges of water upstream into the river took the level of the Wear close to the top of the banksides in Durham.

But it was hoped that if the depth subsided, the second day could be salvaged, including some of Saturday’s cancelled programme, today.

Having monitored the fluctuating levels throughout yesterday and overnight the regatta committee announced the decision to call off the entire programme of racing again, on safety grounds, at 6.30am today.

A statement on the event website said: "We regret that Sunday’s Racing is cancelled.

"At the moment the river state makes it unsafe to hold the regatta.

"Although the river level is falling the race committee is unable to say when, or even if, it will be safe to allow racing to take place."

Hundreds of crews from clubs, universities, colleges and schools across the North converged on the city for the annual pageant of two days of back-to-back racing on the river.

Marquees lined the banks of The Racecourse, with a specially-erected stewards’ booth mounted on Baths Bridge to oversee proceedings.

But organisers were left to dismantle the rain-sodden structures and count the cost of the first abandonment of the regatta.

Event president Doug Stewart said: "I’ve been involved for 32 years and our race commentator has about 50 years’ experience of it and neither of us can even remember losing a day.

"It’s an eventuality none of us have encountered and it’s a head-ache to say the least.

"We were hoping to salvage something today, but the river level is still far too high to allow racing to take place in safety.

"God forbid we had a junior novice crew washed up on the riverbank in mid race. It just doesn’t bear thinking about."

The event was to have featured a parade of skippers of leading university and clubs from Palace Green to the Racecourse on nSaturday lunch-time.

It was also cancelled and planned road closures were lifted as a result.