Helly Hansen

Helly Hansen Team wins the RYA Women's Winter Challenge Match Racing Championship in the last weekend. Helly Hansen athlete Claire Leroy, who was named the ISAF World Sailor of the Year in November following her World and European match racing titles in 2007, made a perfect work at Queen Mary Sailing Club because she achieves her third Championship victory without losing a race over the three days. The Frenchwoman won her first Women's Winter Challenge Championship in 2005 and successfully defended it the following year but she lost the title the last year when Finlandd's Silja Lehtinen won it. Claire tells us: "This weekend there were 6 of the top ten sailors in the world: me, Lotte Melgaard Pedersen n°2 from Danish, Jenny Axhede n°6, Silke Hahlbrock, n°7 and Linda Rahm n°9 from Sweden and Silja Lethinen n°10 from Finland. There also was Luce Mac Gregor GBR who won Silver medal at the European Match racing Championship. Our fantastic team: me, Marie Riou, Morgane Gautier, Elodie Bertrand and Claire Pruvot won the Round Robin with 9 wins, and 0 defeats so we get very exalted to the final series. In the meanwhile the Mermaid Sailingteam had a semifinal against the swedish team Linda Rahm and she won 3/0. Lethinen was the same finalist of last year but we didn't have any fear. We raced a good series and we won 3 at 0. During the race there were no defeats. Just 15 wins. It is incredible !!! Leroy's victory has now qualified her for the RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series Grand Final at Queen Mary in the next weekend where the winners and runners-up from all the Series qualifiers over this winter are scheduled to battle it out for the overall title. MP RYA Women's Winter Challenge Match Racing Championship final results: 1. HELLY HANSEN TEAM Claire Leroy (FRA), Morgane Gautier, Claire Peuvot, Elodie Bertrand, Marcie Riou 2. Silja Lehtinen (FIN) 3. Linda Rahm (SWE) 4. Lucy Macgregor (GBR) 5. Jenny Axhede (SWE) 6. Camilla Ulrikkeholm (DEN) 7. Silke Hahlbrock (GER) 8. Gemma Farrell (GBR) 9. Josie Gibson (GBR) 10. Lotte Meldgaard Pederson (DEN)