G4S 49ers Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes win bronze at Sail for Gold
12 August 2010
The premier event in the 2010 sailing calendar, Sail for Gold, recently took place on the Olympic waters in Weymouth. The G4S 49ers were competing with the intentions of adding more titles to their already successful seasons. The regatta was regarded as a test run for the Olympics in 2012, and as a result of this, it witnessed a huge increase in the number of entrants. There were over 1000 competitors from 57 countries, with everyone desperate to learn more about the Olympic venue ahead of 2012. The 49er class enjoyed strong winds for much of the regatta, which made for some exhilarating racing. Over the first few days of racing the 49ers posted impressive results and were building nicely for the final days racing. As the G4S 49ers entered the finals of the Sail for Gold regatta, both crews were well positioned to mount a serious challenge to their competitors. However, all did not quite go to plan for Peter and Chris, with the sailors concluding the regatta in 5th place. Chris said on the performance, “We felt we had a great plan and were feeling good before the start of the medal race today. We felt comfortable with the race area and Harvey our coach and the met team had done a great job of preparing us. . . but we just couldn't seem to do anything right.” Despite not getting the podium finish that they had wanted, the duo still achieved their stated aim for this regatta, and expressed their excitement about the progress that they had made throughout the season. Therefore, there is a real sense of anticipation that they can make it to the 2012 Olympics. Meanwhile, G4S’s Stevie and Ben continued to perform strongly during the finals, and as a result the duo managed to win the bronze medal. Despite, the duo’s success, Stevie explained that we can still expect more from them, “I wouldn’t have said we found form this week. I don’t really feel that we sailed how we could but I guess we dug in and managed to scrape a result. There’s a lot of room for improvement.” In spite of Stevie’s remarks, there is no denying that this was an impressive result, with the standard of the regatta being incredibly high.