Races
There are multiple races that take place over the weekend, of varying distance, all starting on the Friday night. The ladies and men's veterans races take place on Friday evening, with the main event happening on Saturday and Sunday, with a sailing race on the Monday.
St Agnes
The longest race is from the island of St.Agnes down to the finish line just off the quay of St. Mary's. Both veterans races follow this course to decide the winner of the trophy for these categories.
On the Saturday the men and women race separately, with a full line up of gigs, in 2009 119 gigs were on the start line, and the finishing positions of this race determine the seedings for the subsequent heats.
Nut Rock
Each gig is seeded based on the St.Agnes race and the heats are split into groups of 12 for the race from Nut Rock, back to St. Mary's. Two heats are held, one on Saturday and one of Sunday, with the top two gigs being promoted and the bottom two relegated.
The finals for both the men and ladies take place on the Sunday afternoon, again racing the same course. Each group then has a winner, and the outcome of group A decides who is the overall champions.
Read more about this topic: World Pilot Gig Championships
Famous quotes containing the word races:
“Behind every individual closes organization; before him opens liberty,—the Better, the Best. The first and worse races are dead. The second and imperfect races are dying out, or remain for the maturing of the higher. In the latest race, in man, every generosity, every new perception, the love and praise he extorts from his fellows, are certificates of advance out of fate into freedom.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Arrive at New Orleans, a city of ships, steamers, flatboats, rafts, mud, fog, filth, stench, and a mixture of races and tongues. Cholera, “some.” [At] Planters’ Hotel. Mem:—Never get caught in a cheap tavern in a strange city.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“For the most part we stupidly confound one man with another. The dull distinguish only races or nations, or at most classes, but the wise man, individuals.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)