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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.
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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.
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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 huge coverage. What do you think? Do you think the local and national media
in the UK should cover this event and events like it? Should the TV have covered
it? Email your replies to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.com and let us know
your thoughts. 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. Plus 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...
Click on
here to see our Part
1 of our photographic coverage of the race. |
