Manx Sail Racer

This year the Isle of Man will be represented in the Powerbar Three Peaks Yacht Race starting on Saturday 20th June 2009. This race combines yacht racing with mountain running and cycling and takes in the three highest summits in Britain, Snowdon in Wales, Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland.

Teams are made up of 3 sailors and 2 runners and there aim is to sail from Barmouth on the Welsh coast to Fort William in Scotland, via Caernarfon and Whitehaven. In total this is 389 miles of difficult coastal sailing, 18 miles of cycling and 72 miles of running.

The Isle of Man Team & Yacht

It has been a long held ambition to take part in the Three Peaks Yacht Race and the whole team is now looking forward to their first attempt at this event (despite the lack of sleep of that is bound to be involved). Keith Lord, the boat’s owner, has been delighted with the A35’s performance since acquiring it 2 years ago and enjoyed a very busy 2008 season competing in Scotland, Liverpool and the Isle of Man.

Keith Lord – Skipper

Keith Lord, a building contractor by profession, has long held sailing at the top of his list of hobbies and pastimes, and has enjoyed competing in in-shore racing events for many years in a variety of classes of yachts. The acquisition of the A35 gave him the opportunity to take part in regatta’s throughout the UK in 2008, and now the Three Peaks Yacht Race in 2009 will add a further new and exciting challenge.

Russell Collister – Crew / Runner

Russell, an Investment Manager with Isle of Man Assurance Fund & Investment Management is a keen triathlete and has represented both the Isle of Man and Great Britain in this sport. Russell has also sailed and raced dinghy’s, and taken part in in-shore yacht races for over 30 years and he his wife June regularly compete on the RS200 circuit and are current island dinghy champions. Although Russell will act as a reserve runner, his main role in the race will be principal helm.

June Collister - Crew

June is a self employed Business Project Consultant, having worked in the Islands’ Finance Sector 20 years. June is a keen horse rider and dinghy sailor and both she and Russell regularly compete at National and European Championship level in their class of racing dinghy. June particularly enjoys the challenges of passage planning and so as well as crew, June’s main role for the Three Peaks Race will be navigator.

Tom Cringle – Crew / Runner

Tom is a very keen and experienced fell-runner. Having taken up fell-running about 4 years ago, he is now one of the Islands leading competitors and has gained a lot of experience competing both locally and in the UK. Tom is also a keen sailor, regularly competing an RS400 on the dinghy circuit and has taken part in many regattas on a variety of yachts. Whilst both he and Richard, his fellow runner on the team have both run Snowdon and Scafell Pike and googled earthed Ben Nevis! tackling all 3 together will be a completely new challenge.

Rich Sille - Runner

Richard is a qualified accountant working for one of the Islands major software houses.  Like Tom, Richard is a very experienced fell-runner, having been involved in the sport for many years, and regularly competes both locally and in the UK, notching up some excellent results. This will however be the first time that Richard has taken part in a sailing event, which will certainly add a new dimension to the racing for him!

For more information on the event take at look at the 3Peaks website