Paralympic Medal Winner to sail and coach at Volvo Noble Marine RS200 Nationals
by Sally Campbell 28 Jun 2017 16:53 BST
25-31 August 2017
Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell sailing © Paul Wyeth / British Sailing Team
With the Volvo Noble Marine RS200 National Championships early entry deadline just days away, the RS Class Association are delighted to announce that double Paralympian medal winner Niki Birrell will be sailing in the championship, and running the pre-event coaching on Saturday 26th Aug before the racing gets underway on Sunday 27th.
Saturday coaching has become a regular feature of the event, and with news getting around that Niki will be the coach, spaces are booking up fast. "It's not every day that you get to be coached by a paralympian" said 13 year old entrant Abi Campbell.
Niki won't be expecting an easy ride; with some of the best known names in RS200 sailing, a whole host of young hotshots from all the youth fleets and the RS200 being chosen as the Endeavour Trophy boat again, the competition is set to be tougher than ever. But the class make sure that not all the prizes go to the front runners - the fleet's original buddy group system, plus gold, silver and bronze divisions ensure a good spread of the prizes. Lucky sailors who get buddied up with Niki and crew, Kate Allam!
"Kate and I are very excited to be racing in the RS200 Nationals at Tenby. We are training hard and can't wait to race against the UK's best dinghy sailors in such a large fleet. I know the RS200s attract a big entry from other classes, especially the youth boats and those who are hoping to qualify for the Endeavour later in the year," said Niki.
"We really enjoy the atmosphere at the event, as it is a great mix of males and females with a large age range making the socials very enjoyable. I love seeing so many families racing together having fun, whatever their sailing level.
When making my sailing plans for the year the RS200 Nationals was the stand out event!"
Early entry for the championship closes on 1st July. Enter via the RS Class Association website here.