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The 50th 24 Hour Race
Photographs by Patrick Trollope.
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THE 50th WLYC 24 Hour Race was held from 12 noon, on 17
September to 12 noon, on the dot, on 18 September 2016. This year's race was a
very strange race, as crews had to contend with very low wind and also both hot
temperatures by day and cold temperatures by night. Some of the fun started
early as the set up was struggling with strong winds, which lead to one of the
team's tents ending up in the lake… But the weekend's racing was mostly held
under a very sunny, blue sky, with very light winds. This meant slow going for
most crews on the waters. On land, the crews and support teams all enjoyed
entertainment, ranging from a disco to live music… Far more boats had hit the
water in this 50th Race, and that lead to some fantastic photo opportunities for
tourists as well! For the first time we can recall, the Mayor of Sefton was
absent, a shame as this annual race was started two years ago, at the request of
the then Borough of Southport, in 1967, 160 years after the sport was set up.
Initially the race in 1967 had 60 entries, but due to lack of a boat or
insufficient team members, only 50 took to the waters of the Marine Lake. Oddly
it was intended at first to have been a 12 hour race, but due to lack of
daylight, the West Lancashire Yacht Club opted to do it over 24 hours. Since
then the race has been used for training by Olympic and Paralympics medallists,
as well as having teams from all over the world, including the US and even
Australia, taking part. It is now one of the world's premier Sailing events and
regarded as the most extreme for the classes of boats taking part. A few other
places have tried to copy, but as some of the international press have stated,
the WLYC 24 Hour Race is a classic that cannot be copied.
If you want to take
part in the 51st 24 Hour Race, well the club is already taking and accepting
places. You don't have to be part of a Sailing Club, Class Associations or
University to take part, but the majority are. To register go to the West
Lancashire Yacht Club
website for all the information and also to
register your interest.
Interestingly, this international race, locally does not
get a huge amount of media coverage. Do you think the local and national media
in the UK should cover this event and events like it? Should the TV have covered
this 50th event? As 1 student from a well know boat racing University, that has
TV coverage annually commented:- "It's quite shocking that this is not
covered. It is a major sporting event and it's 50 years old. Quite shocked not
to see the TV attending!" Email your thoughts on this matter to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com and let us know
your think. But for now please enjoy the photographs in Part 1 of our
coverage of this event. You will be able to see more in the next edition as
well.
Click on
here to see our Part
1 of our photographic coverage of the race.
A big congratulations to all the teams who took part, especially to
1st place South Staffs S.C. (B) and 2nd place 2nd South Staffs S.C. (A). In 3rd
place was 3rd West Lancs. Y.C. (A).
3 cheers to West Lancashire Yacht Club and hears to another amazing 50 years of
racing...
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B.O.A. 70th Anniversary DVD |
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 THE
video footage we have taken at
the 70th BOA events this year in
Liverpool has now been fully
edited is available to buy, on a
DVD, from our Online
Shop,
on Mersey Reporter very soon.
For each DVD sold, £3.00 will go
to the Liverpool's Lord Mayor's
Charity Appeal. (Registered
Charity No. 229539) At
this stage we can only do UK
postage options, but if you are
outside the UK, you can still
order copies, but only via
emailing our newsroom at:-
news24@merseyreporter.com
with your FULL address and we
will get back to you with a
postage cost and a payment link,
should you wish to continue. |
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YOU CAN ORDER PHOTOS CLICK
HERE
TO FIND OUT HOW! |
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