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MARK RICHMOND When Mark Richmond (95-00) arrived at the College he was already the best sailor in his class in the country.
also qualifying for the Worlds in 1994, when I was the first sailor since Sir Ben Ainslie to qualify at 12 years old. My best result at the Worlds was 61st in 1995 where I was also the first British boat. Not exactly setting the world on fire but a good grounding for what came next! While at Dulwich I moved into the Laser Radial class, which had youth (U19) and open fleets. I was selected for the RYA Youth Squad in 1998-2000. At a national level I was 2nd at the Laser Radial National Championships and first U19 in 2000. I also came 2nd at the Laser Standard (Olympic class) Youth National Championships that year. I was 13th at the Youth World Championships in Holland in 1998, and went slightly better in 2000 with an 8th in Turkey, alongside being one of three GBR sailors to win the Team World Championships at the same event. I dabbled a bit with double handed classes, mainly for the socials! I was 420 Junior National Champion in 1996 and won a few races over the years, but never better than 10th overall at the National Championships in 2000, where I was crewed by my brother Sam (Alleyn’s 95-02). In 1998, after winning the RYA Youth National Championships in the Hobie 16 class, I was also selected for Team GBR at the ISAF Youth World Championships in South Africa as a crew. We finished 6th, which at the time was disappointing, but looking back not a bad outcome after a very short period in the class. My helm, Leigh McMillan, went on to go to the Olympics in the Tornado Class in 2004 and 2008 but I declined to carry on with him at that stage, as I still had my A Levels to contend with! As a young sailor what were your aspirations? The pinnacle of sailing at the time was certainly the Olympics. At an early stage, I was just looking to win my age category at the major national events but as I progressed, I certainly had one eye on the Olympics. The America’s Cup has a much higher profile today, but I think if you look at the sailors at the front of the fleet now, the majority have come through Optimists and then the Olympic Classes. Was your choice of University affected by the desire to continue your sailing? It certainly was a factor. My decision ultimately came down to Southampton vs. Exeter. Both universities had good History departments, my choice of course. Exeter University was investing heavily in sport and had identified sailing as one that it particularly wanted to back. As a result, despite Southampton being a slightly more logical choice given its very strong background in yachting, team racing, match racing and fleet racing, I was offered a sports scholarship to Exeter and that swung it. Early in my first year at University, I was given a place in the Team GBR Olympic Development Squad in the 49er class. I could not get up to weight for the Laser at the time (78kg) so my choice was really between the 49er and the Tornado (catamaran). It was a baptism of fire into Senior Sailing and I spent most of that year sailing
The year before he had been the first twelve year old to qualify for the World Championships since Ben Ainslie. Here Mark reflects on a Sailing career that took him from his earliest lessons on Bewl Water in Kent at the age of eight, to genuine aspirations of making the British Olympic team. Which sports were you involved in at the College? At school, I mainly played Rugby and Hockey. In my Upper Sixth year, I was in the 2nd XV for Rugby and 2nd XI Hockey Captain. I ran a bit for the school – one of the consequences of really being too small for the Laser Class meant that I had to compensate by being extremely fit, which meant that I occasionally got selected to compete in the London Schools’ Cross Country Championship. I even remember one summer competing for the school over 1500m. How did you get involved in sailing? My mum’s side of the family grew up sailing at Trearddur Bay Sailing Club on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales. I was put on a sailing course after my 8th birthday at Bewl Water, near Tunbridge Wells, just so that I would be able to sail around Anglesey in August later that year. The course was in the Optimists Class which is a small single- handed sailing dinghy intended for use by children up to the age of 15, and it was not long before a few Sunday training sessions turned into Wednesdays after school and weekends throughout the summer. Did you do any sailing as part of your time at the College or was it all done away from school? The majority of my sailing was done away from school. I did compete for Dulwich in a couple of team racing events against City of London in their double handed 420’s on the Royal Docks with Tom Foster (OA 95-00) as my crew. I did enjoy that although at the time I was in the GBR National Youth Squad, so it was a bit harsh on them – a bit like Andrew Sheridan packing down against the school’s 5th XV reserve prop. My time with Tom was one of the few times in the early part of my career that I sailed in a double handed class. Generally, my youth career was spent in single handed classes and it was not until my Olympic campaign that I moved to the double handed 49er. How and when did you make the transition from social sailor to serious competitor? I was very lucky in that there was a good group of Optimist sailors a few years ahead of me at Bewl who were competing nationally at the time. Within a year I had graduated to a fiberglass racing boat and trained as much as possible with the older guys who dragged me up with them. I competed at my first Optimist National Championships in Torquay in August 1991 aged nine and did enough there and in the Inland Nationals and End of Season event that year to be selected for the National Intermediate Squad in 1992. How successful were you as a young sailor? I was the number one ranked GBR Optimist sailor in 1995 and 1996, wining the selection trials for the Optimist World Championships in 1995 and 1996 and
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