Tasmania’s Team Whistler has taken out the Three Peaks endurance race after a dark and foggy run up Hobart’s Mount Wellington.
The five person crew skippered by David Rees finished at Constitution Dock just before midnight, completing the running and sailing event in three days, eight hours and 41 minutes.
Skipper David Rees says it was a tough slog despite the team having more than an hour lead going into the final run.
“The thing about this race is that you never know until it’s over that you’ve done all right,” he said.
“I mean anyone could have sprained an ankle, it was the worst mountain conditions that we’ve had.”
It was runner Jacqui Guy’s first win after competing in 12 Three Peaks races.
She says team work proved the key to this year’s success.
“We’ve had the sailors out running for over 12 months, the runners have been sailing for over 12 months. We’ve been practising rowing, kedging, boat safety, man-overboard,” she said.
“Its been a big team effort so it’s really good to win it as a team.”
Race chairman Alistair Douglas says the Whistler team earnt their win in the gruelling event.
“It’s a small boat but they’ve shown that they can beat some of the larger boats, not by running record times or sailing record times, but by being consistent throughout.”
“They’ve certainly had to earn their position, they’ve served an apprenticeship,” he said.
Team Deguello finished in second place.
The Whistler team will now compete in the UK’s Three Peaks race in about 10 weeks.
Twitter Gate: Congress will take action against Tharoor at the appropriate time: Tewari
New Delhi, Sep.18 (ANI): The Congress party on Friday said it would take appropriate action against Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his “cattle class” comments through the medium of Twitter at the appropriate time.
Addressing a party news conference in the capital, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said: “We will take appropriate action (against Mr. Tharoor) at the appropriate time.
Tewari further said that action against Tharoor was not ruled out.
He also justified Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s statement on Thursday seeking Tharoor’s resignation for what he called “irresponsible” comments on the social networking site Twitter.
“It was unfortunate and unbecoming on his part to make such comments. In my view he should tender his resignation as Minister,” Gehlot had said.
“To make such irreverent comments is all the more despicable when one is holding a responsible position as that of the Minister of State for External Affairs,” Gehlot told journalists at his official residence here after a “Roza Iftar” party on Thursday evening.
Gehlot had termed Tharoor’s references posted on the site such as “cattle class” and “holy cows” as unacceptable in Indian politics.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan also said Tharoor had no right to continue in the Union Cabinet.
“I believe that in a democracy, people are God. To refer to them as ‘cattle’ is an insult to them. And I believe that such a person has no right to be a Union minister,” he told reporters.
Tharoor, who is on an official visit to Liberia, had earlier apologized through the Twitter medium, saying he was “sorry” for hurting any sentiments and that his words had been misunderstood.
“To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorry. It’s a silly expression, but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstood,” Tharoor said.
The minister said that he had learned belatedly of the fuss “over my tweet and pointed out that the phrase “cattle class” was used in the query, which he just repeated. (ANI)