Three Peaks Yacht Race win

We had come to the realisation after the Scafell Pike run that we were out of the running for the king of the mountains trophy and decided to pull out all the stops on the sailing and running to try to win the overall prize: it was a gamble all strategy.

Late on Wednesday evening, it looked like our strategy had gone horribly wrong. It seemed like a line of wind was pushing the chasing fleet towards us as we were rowing in dead calms. We managed to escape the clutches of the Lynn of Lorn tidal gate as the others got within a mile of us. We rowed desperately up Loch Linnhe as we watched the other boats assemble at the Lynn of Lorn tidal gate: the Gates of Lorn.

We rowed up Loch Linnhe for hours until we picked up a feeble wind. We watched the other boats trying to battle their way out of the Gates, but progress seemed slow. It appeared as though one white sail made it out through the Gates.

After hours of rowing and feeble winds, we suddenly got involved in a force 7 blowing down from Glencoe. EADS Innovation Works heeled right over and shot off. These were the only strong winds we had in the whole race. The Martins woke up as the heeling began and we set about manically stacking charts and electronic kit that was lying about the boat. Things were flying everywhere. It brought back fond memories of the 2008 race. North of this wind were the Corran Narrows: the final tidal gate before the finish. If we could get through this with no other boat around, we'd have a clear and substantial lead.

The wind inevitably died down (maybe to force 3) as we went through the Narrows. The spring tide rushes through The Narrows at 4 to 5 knots and is a true tidal gate. Geoff worked his magic and negotiated the gate. At one stage, Geoff was apparently so close inshore that the crew could have picked flowers from the shore! I can't say I was asleep while all this was going on: I was dozing. I couldn't get to sleep: John kept shouting out our progress over the ground (from the GPS). My spirits would rise with sounds of forward progress and fall when John exclaimed that we were going backwards. When I could take the suspense no more, I got up, popped my head out of the hatch into the cockpit and saw the Corran Narrows behind us: what an uplifting sight. Geoff taking EADS Innovation Works through there in light winds, against a spring tide was a work of pure genius.

We sailed and rowed up the upper part of Loch Linnhe. We had maybe 3 more hours of rowing: mostly sailor powered, but some powered by the runners. We were greeted by a beautiful dawn at the head of Loch Linnhe and eventually by the even more beautiful sight of an Fl(2) red buoy: this marked the limit of where we could get our engine on and was a huge relief to everyone.

Within 10 minutes, Team Vasque were stepping ashore onto the pontoon, ready for the final running leg. We had a 2 (or so) hour lead on the next yacht.

I was extremely sceptical of how well we'd run given all the rowing we'd done, the night watches, the lack of sleep. In 2008, I knew that something was wrong as soon as I stepped onto the pontoon. This year, I bounced up the pontoon: this felt promising.

We had a nominal race plan as ever: 30 minutes to Achintee House, 90 minutes to the top, 50 minutes back to Achintee House and 30 minutes back. The most important thing was to get up and down in one piece: to not do anything too clever, too special, too flashy. The race plan was secondary to the main goal.

We could see Ben Nevis 5 miles away, patches of snow covering its summit. The initial issue is a 4 mile road run to the base of the mountain proper. We ran this well, getting to Achintee House in less than 30 minutes. I was then surprised that we wanted to run up the path towards the Ben. I just went with the flow. As we ascended, we never got to the stage where things seemed difficult: the hours of rowing and lack of sleep seemed irrelevant as we raced up Ben Nevis, leading the Three Peaks Yacht Race on a perfect day in the cool of the early morning.

We had a tactical decision as to whether to take the zigzags or climb directly to the summit. We were ascending well on the zigzags and just stuck with that plan. We were really enjoying it now and powered up towards the top, clipping the summit checkpoint less than 2 hours into the run.

We made a little detour on the way down to admire the view down to the CIC hut from the summit cornice. A huge gulley, flanked by slabby cliffs and snow fields, dropped into the abyss, clouds swirling around the adjacent crags. It was a beautiful sight, well worth the detour.

We descended directly, running down scree slopes to meet the main path again, then legged it back down towards the mountain base. This was really enjoyable running, bouncing over the rocks as gravity took us home towards the finish line. In the distance, we could see other yachts making their way up Loch Linnhe towards Corpach. Below the Red Burn, we passed the first set of runners coming the other way: this would be a hot and tiring ascent for them.

Martin turned on the style as we ran along the road sections back to the finish. I tucked in behind and followed him all the way. I thought we ran pretty well to the finish, finishing in 3h20m.

The finish line was a welcome sight: our crew and support crew were there. We were sprayed with bubbly as we crossed the line. It was a fantastic feeling to have won the Three Peaks Yacht Race. This had turned into a life ambition and now it had been realised: you can't be unhappy with that! I was especially happy to win it with Geoff and Gary on board EADS Innovation Works. We'd shown loyalty sticking together and sticking with Lightning Reflex (aka EADS Innovation Works). It might have been possible to find a bigger, faster boat, but it was important to me for us and Lightning Reflex to stick together.

I thought we'd stood a good chance of winning the Ben Nevis leg with our time of 3h20m. In any other year, that would have been a stand out time. It is a testament to the quality of the runners in the race this year that 3h20m seems to have only got us third place and that many running teams have posted sub-4 hour times.

The day has been taken up with chatting to the other crews, lounging around in the sunshine, eating haggis burgers and the obligatory trip to the local pub: where three of us fell asleep at the table - according to team tradition. The finishers' party starts tonight: I need to stay awake. Tomorrow, I can sleep on the long trip back to Bristol.