First British Team at Australian Youth Olympic Festival
by Myrrh Walker, RYA 16 Jan 2007 15:07 GMT
18-20 January 2007
For the first time ever Great Britain has sent six youth sailors to compete in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in the team racing discipline.
The event, held in Sydney from 17-21 January has drawn over 1600 youth athletes to Australia to compete in 16 sports at the venue for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Great Britain will be represented by 112 athletes, including six sailors who will team race over the two days of sailing competition.
RYA Team GBR Youth Squad sailors Kate Macgregor from Poole and Imogen Stanley from Oxford will swap their 420 for the double-handed Pacer dinghy for the duration of the event. The two girls will line up with team-mates Tim Saxton from Baldock and Thame’s Claire Lasko, Ben Saxton from Baldock and Poole’s Matthew Rainback in a bid to bring home a gold medal for "Team GB".
All between 15-16 years of age, these six sailors have a strong team racing record, boasting a gold medal at the 2006 Eric Twiname RYA Youth Team Racing Championship a silver medal at the same event in 2005.
Hoping to continue their run of team racing success, the British three-boat team will use their two main weapons – boat speed and knowledge of the right-of-way rules – to keep the other teams out of the gold medal position over a series of short races held on a course adjacent to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
All of the six British sailors have been in the southern hemisphere for the past three weeks, having recently competed in the 420 World Championships held in New Zealand where Stanley and Macgregor finished in eighth overall in the women’s fleet.
Although the team racing sailing format at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival is different from the fleet racing that sailors experience at the Olympic Games, these young competitors will still get a taste of what it is like to represent their country at an Olympic venue as part of a multi-discipline British team.
“I think it’s fantastic that these young sailors get the chance to compete internationally at an Olympic Venue in the team racing discipline," said John Derbyshire, RYA Performance Director. "They will get a true taste of what it’s like to compete at an Olympic Games, certainly a positive life experience. Our six British sailors are the best young team racers we have to offer and we wish them the best in their quest for gold.”
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