The Three Peaks Yacht Race
The Leaders Arrive
Rob Howard / 22.06.2005
He was kitted out ready to run up Ben Nevis with crewman Ian Winterburn, as the team are racing in the Tilman Trophy and need to put 4 of the crew onto a summit. Greg is a marathon runner, and Ian a member of Dark Peak Fell Runners who was planning on doing a Bob Graham Round this weekend, so they are a strong running pair. Looking across Loch Linnhe Ben Nevis was an intimidating sight though, wreathed in dark and menacing cloud there was little of the mountain visible. As his kit was checked before the start Marsh joked, “It’s right we just run into the cloud and then turn round. Isn’t it?�
They left Rob Smith and Keith Read standing on the jetty with crewman Richard Norris. The pair have won the running stages on Snowdon and Scafell Pike, and had they run were almost certain to win the King of the Mountains Trophy, but had to forgo that for the team to win the Tilman Trophy.
“It would have been nice to win it,� said Read, “but we entered for the Tilman, and had to let Greg do a run. It is his boat after all! It was a difficult night as there was no wind, not enough to fly the spinnaker, and we had to row for quite a while. We were all tired, but had no sleep rota, whoever was most tired went below.�
“We kept looking back expecting to see Abbeydale Moonshine. It’s a nervous feeling thinking the lead could be taken from you any time. We did start racing harder for a while up the Sound of Jura as we’d seen a sail come up behind us, but it wasn’t them.�
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