POLPERRO's Lisa Higgins couldn't hide her delight after she was given the honour to start what was a record-breaking 2013 J P Morgan Asset Management Round The Island Race.

The Cornish mother-of-two was handed the privilege after winning a competition on the race's website, and took to the Royal Yacht Squadron castle platform to signal the start at 5.00 am last Saturday.

Great Britain's four-time Olympic gold medallist, Ben Ainslie set a multihull record on board J P Morgan BAR in two hours, 52 minutes and 15 seconds, breaking Francis Joyon's 2001 time by more than 16 minutes.

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