The PowerBar Three Peaks Yacht Race
From Tasmania to Fort William
Rob Howard / 28.06.2007
“I figured if I got an entry to the UK race my employers might take sympathy on me and give me the time off to come, and that worked out pretty well.�
So he began emailing the race organisers and found a place on Flapjack, a boat from Pwllheli, near Barmouth, with an experienced 3 Peaks crew on. The skipper, Ken Fitzpatrick has sailed the race several times and was on the yacht Pwllehi Patnership, which holds the race record. Jos also had a good running partner in Martin Beale of Team Montrail. Martin has completed the Bob Graham Round, and many mountain marathons. He used to row for Queen’s College Cambridge too, another handy skill on this race!
On paper it was a good team for the visiting runner, and it’s proved so in the race, as Flapjack’s runners have been the quickest on every mountain, and are comprehensive winners of the ‘King of the Mountains Title’. They came down off Ben Nevis at 10.05 on Thursday morning have set a time of 3 hours 25 minutes, 53 minutes quicker than their nearest rivals off Vlad the Impaler. Conditions were again cloudy and wet, but the pair at least had daylight to run in.
Their total time on all 3 mountains was 15 hours 11 minutes, and their all conquering performance will win them 4 trophies, one for each mountain, plus the trophy for ‘King of the Mountains’. The prize giving is in November in North Wales, so it’s a long way for Jos to come to get his trophies though!
“The hills are much steeper here than those in Tasmania,� Jos said, “but our runs are longer and I’d say the sailing is much the same. Coming off Ben Nevis was good as the rocks slipped under your feet so you could slid down the mountain.�
“In our race I think yachts have to be over 30 feet, but although Flapjack is smaller there was plenty of room for us, even for Martin who is 6’3� tall.� Then as he sighted the burger van set up on the lock side he said, “I think I’ll have one of those for breakfast!�
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