Wild Spirit stays the course to triumph

Wild Spirit were crowned champions of the annual Barmouth to Fort William 3 Peaks Yacht Race.

Runners on the first peak, a 26-mile run to the summit of Snowdon, suffered from sunburn and dehydration.

After the second stage of the race, involving 38 miles of cycling and the ascent of Scafell Pike, it was a close race with Irish boat Digital Built Consultants leading the Jeanneau 40 Wild Spirit.

The third stage from Whitehaven to Fort William is the longest sail of the race and it was made even more difficult with gusts to nearly 40 knots from Storm Hector.

Wild Spirit crossed the line first by a few

“Only the second time Ben Nevis has been closed to runners”

minutes with their runners primed to leap ashore and run up to the snow covered summit of Ben Nevis, only for the race to be put on hold for safety reasons until the storm eased.

In the 40-year history of the race it is only the second time Ben Nevis has been closed to runners. The first was in 1978 due to heavy snow.

The runners had to wait until the next day to complete a shortened run part way up Ben Nevis and Wild Spirit, skippered by Paul Jackson, scooped most of the trophies as first over the line and winners on handicap in a corrected race time of four days two hours and 13 minutes, just 21 minutes ahead of Digital Built Consultants.

The runners from Wild Spirit, Stuart Walker and Jon Morgan, also won all three mountain runs and took the King of the Mountains title with a combined run time of 13 hours 27 minutes.