Powerboat Victory for Sarah Donohue and team

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Cowes played host to the 50th Anniversary of the 'Cowes-Torquay-Cowes' and the 'Cowes 100' powerboat race this weekend.

Sarah Donohue, alongside team owner and throttleman Martin Lai and top Navigator Tom Williams Hawkes in 'Ocean Dragon Racing' took a very respected 2nd place overall, in the 'Cowes 100', racing in the toughest class of this historic and prestigious event dominating the Solent. They also took a 3rd in their Class in the famous ‘Cowes Torquay Cowes’ event after suffering slight boat damage in the Torquay area. But getting home through very rough waters within the time allowance. Only 12 of the 44 boats that started the event managed to finish with boats scattered around the rough waters unable to make it back.

Sarah Donohue British, European and American National Champion joined 'Ocean Dragon Racing' 3 years ago and said of the team, 'Martin and his crew are the best team I have worked with, they are professional on and off the water and it is team work which makes reaching the podium possible in these gruelling marathon races.'
Sarah is best known for her role in masterminding the boat chase sequence in Bond movie 'The World is Not Enough' and has also been linked to working with other stars such as Robert Carlise and Angelina Jolie.

Martin Lai is an Exmouth businessman and is no stranger to the podium himself, taking win after win in the P1 series until its collapse earlier this year, and Martin chose to continue racing in the marathon races. The toughest races in the world as man and machine go head to head with the elements.

The boat is a 41ft Pantera, powered by over 1050hp and carries 360 gallons of fuel at speeds in excess of 100mph and weighs a massive 5 tons pushing through some of the toughest waters of the British coastline.

Martin said of his 2nd place victory, 'we could have gone into a smaller class, and had we have done, we would have won that class, still taking a 2nd place overall, but I wanted to be the smallest boat in the toughest class and take our chance. We took 2nd in our class and 2nd overall, and the winner Fabio Buzzi, an outstanding Italian racer had the added advantage of 2 more engines and an extra 1000hp plus a 9.2 ton boat. So to say we as a team are ecstatic is an understatement. Sarah and Tom did a great job and we look forward to more success in the future as we take racing into Asia in 2011.’ Sarah was the only female to complete the race.Girlracer magazine

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