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Mary won the royal match race

10. maj 2004 11:05

Mary Donaldson and John Bertrand won the royal match race
Foto: Keld Navntoft, © Scanpix

By Bo Hasseriis

It did not look good for Mary when the third race started in the royal match in Copenhagen Har-bour, because Crown Prince Frederik quickly took the lead.

The Danish boat held that position around the first mark and for long it seemed to be quite a solid lead. But halfway down the next leg of the race, the wind almost totally vanished.

And while the spectators held their breath, they could see how John Bertrand succeeded in getting closer and closer, finally managing to get the front of the boat inside the Danish boat when passing the next mark.

The audience helped Mary win
The two boats each chose a side of the lane and John Bertrand sailed the boat under the quay of ‘Langelinie’, where thousands of spectators made no secret of the fact that they wished Mary would win.

That helped, because the Australian boat distanced itself further from Crown Prince Frederik, who could do nothing about it, even though he was assisted by the many times over Olympic champion Jesper Bank.

Just before the Australian boat passed the finishing line, John Bertrand let a slightly self-conscious Mary take the helm and she steered the boat the last meters of the race. When the victory was gained it came to a big kiss on the cheek for John Bertrand.

John Bertrand’s comment to the race was mostly about Mary Donaldson’s role on the boat.

- She might not be very big, but she did a really good job on the boat! She is tough!

Mary’s comment to the race was:

- The best woman won!

I will take the blame!
There was no sulking on the Crown Prince’s boat, and Jesper Bank who was in charge of the tactics on the Danish boat took the full responsibility for not succeeding in winning over the Australian boat.

- Frederik is a natural talent, and I will take all the blame for loosing. We should have covered the others earlier - that would have done it.

The Crown Prince’s immediate remark was that he would probably get some snide remarks on the quay but that a beer would make it easier to live with!