Celebrities prepare for Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes
by Claire Stopps, LaserPerformance 11 Jul 2008 08:19 BST
1 August 2008
Kirsty Gallacher, Jonathan Edwards and Colin Jackson prepare for the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes 2008
Television sports personality Kirsty Gallacher and former GB Olympic athletes Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards will compete in The Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes event at this year's Skandia Cowes Week. The inclusion of this trio of aspiring sailors creates a unique race within a race which seeks to find the 'champion of champions' at Cowes.
Sailors from 30 different classes who competed in last year's regatta will take part in The Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week regatta on Friday 1st August. Kirsty, Colin and Jonathan will each crew one of the identical 20ft Laser SB3s racing in the Solent. All crews involved in the race must be skippered by a class winner from Skandia Cowes Week 2007 who will compete on a level playing field to find the best sailor at Skandia Cowes Week.
Kirsty, Colin and Jonathan have recently been in training and competed against each other at an intensive sailing day at Datchet Water. On this occasion Kirsty finished in first place with Jonathan finishing second and Colin coming home in third.
TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher commented: 'I am really excited to be taking part in The Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes. Coming from a sporting background, I love the buzz of competition. I've heard some good things about last year's event and know that Gabby Logan took part and enjoyed some success finishing in 5th place (in the Team Touareg crew). It will be a real challenge and I think it is fantastic this race has been established to create a level playing field and find the champion of champions at Cowes Week.'
Former 110 metre hurdle world-record holder Colin Jackson stated: 'I haven't done too much sailing so the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes will be new territory for me but the competitive drive never goes away. I'll be aiming to do as good a job as possible for my crew so will be working hard in training. I'll also have an extra incentive to do well as I'm up against my former Great Britain Olympic team mate Jonathan Edwards. It will be good to get a friendly rivalry going between us...especially in Olympic year.'
Olympic Gold medallist Jonathan Edwards said: 'I am really looking forward to competing in the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes. I'll be trying to get my sailing knowledge and skills up to scratch as quickly as possible as I don't want Colin Jackson to finish ahead of me! It will be fun having a race within a race between Colin, Kirsty and me however the most important thing is that we all support our crews as best we can.'
Sally Chapman, Volkswagen Communications Manager, added: 'It's great to have Kirsty, Colin and Jonathan involved in the competition. Volkswagen has supported the Laser SB3 class for the past five years and we'll be looking to make the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes even more of a success than last year.'
The Volkswagen Touareg luxury 4x4 is the official vehicle sponsor of Skandia Cowes Week 2008. The impressive capabilities of the Volkswagen Touareg make this an ideal partnership. It can tow loads of up to 3.5 tonnes and is able to send power to the wheels that need it most to help up tricky slipways. It will also happily wade into water up to half a metre deep, or even more with the optional air suspension, which makes launching and recovery of a boat simple and safe.
Follow the progress of Jonathan, Kirsty and Colin on the official Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes website www.kingofcowes.com , or for further details on the complete Volkswagen Touareg range visit www.volkswagen.co.uk/touareg