Niki Birrell & Alexcandra Rickham have won Gold at the IFDS Qingdao International Regatta
Photograph:Event Media
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Megan Pascoe (as amended by IACA), Saturday, 17 May 2008
The 2008 Qingdao International Regatta was held from 11th - 15th May at the Olympic Harbour where racing will be conducted for the Paralympic Games in September.
The GBR team of Niki Birrell and Alexandra Rickham have won the SKUD 18 competition by winning the final race and overtaking USA for the top spot. Birrell & Rickham were tied on points with the Americans after the penultimate race, but Scott Whitman and Julia Dorset had the tie-break advantage. In a disappointing end to their regatta, Whitman & Dorset were disqualified for being over the start line early.
Bronze went to Australia's Dan Fitzgibbon and Rachael Cox with their third place in the final race being enough for them to overtake the Canadian team who had been on equal points but ahead on count-back.
Rachael shared her view on the regatta, "I am looking forward to coming back in September for the Paralympic Games, and if it is run as well as it was this time I'm sure it would be an absolutely fantastic event"
The Sonar competition was won by John Robertson, Stephen Thomas and Hannah Stodel (GBR) from the French and Israel teams. The final order in the 2.4mR was France, Canada & Germany.
Australian Sonar helmsman, Colin Harrison, shared his views on the event, “The sailing is very challenging due to the changing conditions, breezes in one race going from 4 knots to 18 knots which has really tested our skills. The venue is fantastic, the infrastructure in place, whilst needing small refinements, is excellent."
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