The PowerBar Three Peaks Yacht Race
Racing Slowly to the Finish Line
Rob Howard / 01.07.2011
After the intense competition of Wednesday night, there was another quiet day on Thursday, with a few more yachts coming in through the day and in the evening, often with no pressure on them to compete with other teams on the mountain. Kasuje II and Pears n’ Peaks did arrive quite close together in the evening and as everyone was gathered at the nearby Caol Institute for the race party there was a loud cheer and Pears n’ Peaks runners were seen passing by. (The route is just outside the Institute.)
Both pairs of runners did have the option to come to the party with the clock stopped and go up Ben Nevis later, but they wanted to get the race finished. There was no restriction on their crews of course, who could now relax and wait for the runners to return later in the night.
The party is an informal get together to swap race stories and have a few drinks, there are no prizes given out. That all happens at the annual dinner, which is on Nov. 5th this year, and there are a huge number of trophies to be won, for all sorts of categories, including fundraising, military and Welsh boats ... and also for going slowly and for coming last!
At present there is only one boat left out on the water, and that is Flemish Lowlanders, who are unlikely to finish before Saturday, but they have plenty of time to get to the end ahead of the course closure. (If needs be they will even have a time credit for a mountain rescue they performed on Scafell Pike.) There are a group of family and supporters waiting for them, and they all plan to go up Ben Nevis together.
All being well, they will win the Last Inn Cup (named after a pub in Barmouth), and they may also win the Kaminga Clogs. These are a pair of clogs donated by a Dutch skipper some years ago and now mounted as a trophy for the slowest pair of runners on the 3 mountains. (After their problems GFT do have a longer time, but they have not used the same runners on all 3 peaks.)
Another trophy to be decided is for the IRC handicap and this has gone to White Clouds with an adjusted time of 63 hours 6 minutes for the aggregate sail.
The last but one boat to finish was First Love, which had a late replacement runner on the team, and a late, late replacement sailor. They completed the race at 11.24 on Friday when Russ Ladkin and Keith Harris ran across the line. Ladkin commented; “I’m glad we have finished now, it’s getting hot and the path was getting busy as we ran down.� Co-skipper Denis Howell made an oft repeated comment; “Never again!� But then he said he’d only do one race, and this is his fourth ... so far!
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