Sailing

With less than 1,000 miles to the finish of the first leg in Rio, Simon Walker (Toshiba) has cut to 24 miles the lead held by Mike Golding (Group 4) in the BT Challenge.

In conditions becoming so rough that the finals were reduced from a best of five to three, Stuart Childerley became the new BT/RYA National Match Racing Champion in Weymouth yesterday, beating Steve Tylecote 2-0.

There was a tight finish to the first leg of the Clipper '96 race in Madeira, just 15 minutes separating Ras Turner (Ariel) from Adrian Faiers (Taeping) at the end of the 1200 miles yesterday. Third-placed Mervyn Wheatley (Thermopylae) was a further seven mintes behind and another eight was fourth-placed Mark Dixon (Antiope). The rest of the eight identical 60-footers crewed by fare-paying amateurs was expected in last night, with Colin Mowbray likely to take over the lead when his 18-hour time redress was taken into account.