Mitie triumphant again as 127 race at Littler Britain

The trophy at this year’s scaled-down Little Britain Challenge Cup regatta on the Isle of Wight was awarded for the second year in a row to facilities management group Mitie.

Mitie secured its victory from a class five boat of the slowest type, again achieving results belying the boat’s status.

In second place came the Stone and Ceramic Warehouse Company, with Capita Symonds’ yacht, Batfish, a close third. Moxley Architects finished in fourth place, which made it the highest placed architect.

A total of 127 teams competed in the three-day event, compared with 250 last year. But non-racing attendees doubled to 25 firms, and about £20,000 was raised for charity, a figure expected to rise once the final number is verified.

There were also 20 newcomers, including McGee Group, the highest-placed rookie team.

As ever, the event did not go off without incident, with the Estel yacht running aground on a sandbank. WF Electrical’s yacht, Seesaw suffered the indignity of being towed into place for each race after its engine packed up.

David Kong, marketing director for Domus and a director on the committee for Little Britain, said: “Recession or no recession, keen sailors like architect Jack Pringle and consultant Hurley Palmer Flatt will always be sailing here.”

Lee Penson, chief executive of Penson Group, was on board cruising boat Javelot 3 and said the event worked better at a slightly reduced size. “Much more business was done this year.”