Australian 23rd Three Peaks Race debut from Peter Allan

by Kate Phibbs on 21 Apr 2011 Australian 23rd Three Peaks Race skipper Peter Allan will make his debut today, at Beauty Point, twenty-one years after an accident at the hang gliding world championships in Germany left him a quadriplegic.

Allan, 51, of Launceston has come a full circle since this life shattering event to skipper his team Cradle Mountain Chateau in what he believes is one of the most spectacular and difficult yachting events in the world.

When Allan told some of the German clients of his Launceston based company that he will be involved in a race that includes three mountain ascents of 133 kilometers over four days, they said that it was impossible. This feat seems all the more impossible considering that doctors told Allan that he should give up hope of ever walking again.

'When I told them about the race they said you’re crazy and that this is bullsh*t, nobody does this' says Allan, 'another person at the same company said 'you’re having us on – people can’t run that far.'

'When I describe the distances and the height they climb – you know its Tasmania and we’re going to get three different weather systems in the space of the race - all of those things put together, well there’s no other race in the world like this.'

While Peter Allan will not be part of the running team, he will be skippering the yacht around the treacherous Furneaux Group of islands in Bass Strait before heading south on the second leg to Coles Bay where the runners will ascend Mount Freycinet.

The last leg will see them round the Tasman Peninsula and arrive at Constitution Dock where the runners will disembark for the final running leg up Mount Wellington. With a total of 335 nautical miles to be sailed in a few days Mr Allan will still have his work cut out for him.

The Australian Three Peaks Race will start at 2pm on Good Friday from Beauty Point in the state's north with the first boats arriving in Hobart from Easter Monday.

Mr Allan expresses his excitement at getting to see Tasmania’s rugged coastline. 'The coastline of Tasmania is fantastic – there’s no place like it in the Australian Three Peaks website