The three musketeers – Neil Polwart, Alisdair Chisholm and Duncan Turner – posted a near-Olympic time of 1 minute 02 seconds round the obstacle course.

Said commentator Mike Smith: ''They blame their entry on a bout of temporary insanity, not unconnected with a night in a nearby hostelry."

Appropriately, with records being broken in Beijing, the Dads were part of a record-breaking entry for the event: 20 compared with last year's 18.

That underscores just how popular the race – the centrepoint of Linlithgow Union Canal Society's Fun Day – has become.

The huge crowds who lined the canal bank, and up and over the bridge, cheered on the teams – which turned to gales of laughter as the boats succumbed to the rigours of the course, the crew, or both and went belly up.

Some gave up on being launched, including the Banana Split of St John's Church, a round-bottomed beauty whose crew didn't have a prayer.

Others perversely tempted fate with their names, such as Rock Steady and The Floater, both of which went down after hitting the water.

Then there was the Caribbean Queen, crewed by Jen and Sam Hutton, grandchildren of late LUCS member Bill Watt, who launched the idea of a cardboard boat race back in the 1980s.

Said commentator Mike Smith: ''This is not a very high-powered craft – it's only got two Watts. . .'' and down it went post-launch.

But the day belonged to the Embarrassing Dads in their Coxless 3.

Second were the sporting youngsters from the Shinty Club who scored a silver with their time of one minute and 22 seconds.

And in third spot were the Linlithgow Air Cadets on boat 439, who flew round in one minute and 36 seconds.

The Yellow Duck prize for most entertaining entry went to Bill's Brood and Caribbean Queen.

The Bill Watt trophy for most ingenious entry went to the plucky Viking Vixens quartet.

And the Sharpeedos took the Wooden Spoon for fastest sinking: 1.7 secs!

All prizes were presented by Janice MacNeill, principal of Donaldson's School, which is poised to open officially next month.

Over in front of the old Doocot, the stalls manned by largely local groups seemed to be doing brisk business, and the glorious weather, plus music from the jazz band, created a carnival atmosphere.

And all credit to LUCS for making sure all 20 entries made it into the water in record time – and plucking many back out in record time too!