Sailors haul in a ‘float’ for heroes (From St Helens Star)

Sailors haul in a ‘float’ for heroes

8:20pm Wednesday 12th October 2011 in News By Chris Riches

TWO sailors swapped the high seas for the more tranquil waters of a lake to endure a 24-hour boat race to drum up cash for the Help the Heroes charity.

Alan Roberts, from Eccleston, and his Royal Navy chum Alex Pilkington, from Chorley, raised an impressive £1,160 and a further £570 in collection buckets after successfully completing the West Lancashire Yacht Club’s 24 hour race.

After entering their two-man Royal Navy team, the lads completed an impressive 79 laps finishing 11th out of 69 teams in the race which took place at Marine Drive, Southport.

The pair boasted impressive early average times of 17 minutes per lap and came home just ahead of another local squad from Pilkington Sailing Club who finished 14th.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for lads though as they encountered various problems throughout the race, including a hole on the left front of the boat and a badly damaged sail which meant they had to finish the race with just one sail.

Commenting on the event Alan said: “It was a tough race; I have lots of blisters and cuts to show that. It was exciting though and although it was tiring, me and my team mate were wide awake after the race because we were so hyper.

“We didn’t have time to stop at all during the race, we were just given a bag of food in passing during the night at 11am and 3am.”

“The race got quite difficult towards the end. We received a badly damaged sail which really affected our lap times and meant that we literally had to finish with just one sail.”

“I’m really glad we pulled through though. I know a lot of lads who have been injured in action and it’s good to know that we’ve managed to raise so much money and it’s all going to a good cause”.

Alan (20) has been in the Navy for three years and now back at his base in Greece after some much needed rest.

The two sailors received huge support from family, friends and were provided with Help for the Heroes T-shirts and banners during the race.

Online donations for the team remain ongoing and people can still donate by visiting bmycharity.com/24hourrace.