Bronze for Penny Clark at Laser Radial Europeans

by RYA/Lindsey Bell/GJN on 17 Jun 2006 In Riccione, Italy, Lee-on-Solent's Penny Clark rounded off a lucrative day for Skandia Team GBR with a Bronze at the Laser Radial European Championships.

A regatta dominated by light winds, development squad sailor Clark revelled in the conditions during the week-long event and was in third position heading into the last day.

Marred by light winds once again, Friday's final medal race was called off, meaning that the positions at the end of racing on Thursday decided the medallists. Gold went to Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Silver to Gintare Volungeviciute (LTU) and Bronze to Clark.

Clark was overjoyed with her bronze - her best ever result on the international stage. 'I'm really, really, really pleased - I've exceeded my expectations!' said Clark. 'As with Holland, I felt I was able to read the shifts really well, and I just tried to stay relaxed all throughout the regatta.'

A Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy at HMS Sultan in Gosport, Clark will now return to work - to negotiate time off from her Navy career to concentrate on her sailing in a bid to qualify for the Beijing Games.

'I really wanted to get on performance funding this year, which I've now done. The Navy have agreed to give me two years unpaid leave if I do that, so I now just need to go back and work out the finer detail with them!'

Fellow development squad sailor Andrea Brewster also had a notable performance in Riccione, finishing in fifth.

In the Men's event Steven Le Fevre of Holland was the winner ahead of Timofey Zhbankov (RUS) with Rodie Van Mackelenbergh (NED) third. Briton's Ross Harvey was sixth and Ben Paton was third.

Laser Radial European Championships, Riccione (ITA)

1 BEL 185785 Van Acker Evi 33,0 4 6 1 4 6 3 (19) 2 7
2 LTU 182613 Volungeviciute Gintare 35,0 2 16 1 2 1 1 (ocs) 6 6
3 GBR 184298 Clark Penny 51,0 3 3 18 1 3 9 5 (33) 9
4 POL 185617 Szotynska Katarzyna 61,0 6 (40) 9 5 2 10 15 3 11
5 GBR 182213 Brewster Andrea 66,0 8 12 6 10 14 12 3 1 (15)
6 NOR 186007 Samdal Elin Maria 80,0 15 11 7 16 7 11 3 (28) 10
7 ESP 181396 Reyes Lucia 80,0 12 1 (27) 6 3 8 10 14 26
8 POL 180752 Pic Katarzyna 81,0 9 4 22 10 11 12 4 9 (28)
9 CZE 182267 Fenclová Veronika 87,0 14 (26) 10 5 14 10 6 15 13
10 SWE 183273 Söderström Karin 93,0 5 (34) 17 17 5 2 31 12 4

Other GBR
21. Laura Baldwin (19,(36),3,18,21,2,18,16,14) 111pts
23. Lizzie Vickers (20,10,3,19,17,13,5,27,(40)) 114pts
26. Charlotte Dobson (26,(28),5,20,10,17,9,21,17) 125pts
34. Alison Young (5,8,19,31,34,26,10,(38),24) 157pts

Men: Radial European Championships, Riccione (ITA)
1 NED 158085 Le Fevre Steven 13,0 1 3 1 1 1 1 (8) 2 3
2 RUS 176564 Zhbankov Timofey 36,0 9 2 3 9 3 3 6 (16) 1
3 NED 177598 V. Mackelenbergh Rodie 38,0 (14) 5 8 4 13 2 3 1 2
4 NED 174736 Krol Steven 49,0 3 10 13 3 6 5 (18) 3 6
5 ITA 181536 Marino Gianluca 62,0 4 9 2 (19) 10 6 10 5 16
6 GBR 182293 Harvey Ross 64,0 11 (23) 4 6 9 8 4 17 5
7 ITA 179282 Mecozzi Alfredo 67,0 dnf 6 (14) 7 14 11 5 4 11
8 GBR 182523 Paton Ben 72,0 18 8 9 2 2 9 15 9 (dsq)
9 ITA 184829 Buchberger Igor 78,0 12 14 7 14 7 10 1 13 (23)
10 NED 180830 Damen Paul 79,0 6 7 12 10 8 (22) 9 20 7

Youth under 17 - leading positions:
1 TUR 179810 Kaptan Guney Can 12,0 1 (ocs) 1 2 2 3 3
2 SLO 185409 Pletikos Nik 67,0 6 (ocs) 3 8 17 10 23
3 IRL 183948 Mclaverty Aidan 74,0 2 9 11 27 10 (49) 15
4 POL 183487 Klajna Jakub 83,0 12 18 (bfd) 12 2 25 14
5 ITA 184863 Acciani Alessandro 85,0 18 12 2 8 29 16 (55)
Best GBR:
17 GBR 177577 Mills-Barton Alex 176,0 16 6 19 (dnf) 20 55 60

Youth - Leading positions:
1 RUS 171936 Lisovenko Igor 11,0 2 1 4 1 1 2 (5)
2 TUR 179810 Kaptan Guney Can 12,0 1 (ocs) 1 2 2 3 3
3 ESP 176474 Blanco Joaquin 14,0 1 1 6 4 1 1 (dnf)
4 NED 181979 Pelt Gijs 18,0 (42) 2 1 3 6 5 1
5 CRO 182123 Sestan Marko 47,0 9 5 3 6 3 (32) 21
Best GBR:
34 GBR 183235 Fox Adam 117,0 20 20 32 15 21 9 (37)