More than 4000 people turned out for Russell's Birdman Festival on Saturday, a record for the six-year-old event which was this year won by Russell GP Ian Birch.
Dr Birch's five previous, ingenious attempts had failed to net him even a booby prize, so he was delighted to break his hoodoo by winning the 2012 supreme title for his Birdman Wizard entry.
Ironically this time he had entered as himself in the year 2044, pushing a Zimmer frame, while his wife Rachel performed a song to the tune of Pinball Wizard that detailed the doctor's Birdman exploits every year since the festival began - previous entries include The Thunderbirds, a hot air balloon, a flying carpet and Mary Poppins - and lamented his "zero wins to date".
"I feel like I've been waiting for this forever," Dr Birch said as the winners were named on Saturday evening.
The festival is held over three days every winter and features a gender-bending drag race, spaghetti-eating competitions, a barbecue cook-off, dinghy races and paper-plane-flying contests, culminating in the Birdman jump in which contestants have to leap the greatest distance - or in the most original manner - from the end of Russell Wharf.