Lush gets on her bike to make start of World cup regatta

(OnEdition)

Ferries and trains have been the stuff of epic journeys in the face of volcano-inspired flight bans but Olympic squad sailor Annie Lush had literally to get on her bike to make the start tomorrow of the World Cup regatta in France.

The former Cambridge rowing blue was stuck in Palma de Mallorca needing to travel Hyeres, near Toulon, but, with flights cancelled and a French rail strike making life more difficult, she needed to be resourceful.

Her solution was to take a bike and, with 17 kilogrammes of kit on her back, add to ferries and trains several pedal-power stints totalling seven hours to join skipper Lucy Macgregor and fellow crew Ally Martin for the match racing in the Semaine Olympique Francaise.

A near full strength British squad – though without Ben Ainslie and the Star pairing of Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson - sees double gold medallist Sarah Dempsey making her first full assault with Saskia Clark in the 470 dinghy under the tutelage of double silver medallist Joe Glanfield.