Howe wins a place in Sail 4 Cancer team for this year’s Olympic Regatta Circuit

10:17am Tuesday 10th January 2006

RACHEL Howe will be representing team Sail 4 Cancer in the Olympic Regatta Circuit this year.

The High Wycombe sailor, 22, along with crewmates Gemma Farrell and Daina Shanks, already trains with Olympic gold medallists Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb.

The trio, who race in the Olympic Yngling class, are already busy training five days a week before they travel to Miami later this month to compete in the Rolex Olympic Classes Regatta and the Northern American Keelboat Championships.

Howe, who captained the sailing team at Cambridge University, joined up with Farrell before Shanks came on board.

The trio, who won the Ladies National Match Racing Championship, last year, are aiming for a top ten position in the Yngling worlds in July 2006 so they can secure the next level of Olympic funding.

They receive National Lottery and UK Sport Funding through the Royal Yachting Association but they are still in need of a full time title sponsor so they can compete at the highest level.

Yngling, which means youngster, was invented in 1967 by Norwegian Jan Lingel for his son and it became an Olympic sport in Athens 2004.

Howe is currently at the start of a seven-year long dream to win a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London.

The trio are in Great Britain's development squad, training alongside the elite athletes so that they will be ready in 2012 when the Olympic Games sailing takes place at Weymouth.

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