MENTION the Three Peaks Race in this part of the world and most people will think of the 22-mile Pen-y-ghent, Whernside, Ingleborough classic that takes place every April - but there is another.

It is the marathon which combines sailing and running to tackle Britain's three highest mountains.

And this year there is special local interest in the race as Kirkby Londsdale sailor Mike Paget-Tomlinson has put together a team to tackle the 389 miles of difficult coastal sailing, 73 miles of fell running and 22 miles of cycling.

Next month, Mike and his team of Dave Ferier and Steve Bracher, sailors, and Neil Morris and Steve Gregg, runners, will board his 36ft Westerly Corsair Paget's Lady and head for the start line in Barmouth on June 21.

The first trial for Neil and Steve will be to run to the summit of Snowden, 3,560ft, then the sailors face their first major test, piloting Paget's Lady through the treacherous Menai Straits, where they will have to judge the tides just right or somehow row or haul the 36-footer through the narrows.

Then it is off across Liverpool Bay in an 80-mile sail to Whitehaven, from where the runners take over again for a dash up and down 3,210ft Scafell Pike.

Once back on board the sailors then take over for a long haul round the Mulls of Galloway and Kintyre before negotiating the rocky waters between Craobh Haven and Fort William.

Finally the runners take on Britain's biggest mountain, the mighty Ben Nevis, 4,406ft.

Yachts are forbidden to use their engines, except for manoeuvring close to ports, and Mike says that even completing the course will be an achievement in its own right.

One advantage for Mike is that the waters of the Irish Sea and South West Scotland are not unfamiliar.

After sailing Paget's Lady to the Med for a three years' sojourn, he kept her at Glasson Marina, near Lancaster, for three years and then in Fleetwood Marina for the last three.

For the last two years he has used her for skippered charter, based in Scotland at Ardrossan, to enjoy the sailing in the Clyde.

After the Three Peaks he plans to go south to the Channel Isles and on to North Brittany.

The purpose of doing the race is simply to have fun and to face the challenge that the race offers, he says.

May 29, 2003 10:31