Peter Smith, 60, from Solihull – one of six members of crew on board De Lage Landen who completed the full circumnavigation of the Round the World yacht race last year – has presented The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust with a cheque for £5,000.

The money will allow the Trust to take 10 more young people, aged 8-24, on a life changing, four day sailing trip around the Isle of Wight.

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is the only event of its type. Anyone, even if they have never stepped on a boat before, can join the adventure and circumnavigate the world in an eleven month-long marathon on yachts led by professional skippers.

After signing up to the event, Peter – as featured in The Birmingham Press in 2011 – set up a fundraising page online, which he used as a blog throughout his training and circumnavigation to update family and friends –  as well as reminding people he was raising money for the Trust.

After each leg he used social media to encourage people to read his blog and donate, money saved from providing their own food at training days pre-race, raffling his own wine collection and sending e-cards at Christmas also contributed to the total.

For his on-going support, Peter was recently invited to be an Ambassador for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.

He said: “I am honoured to be chosen as an Ambassador, what the Trust does is amazing and I will be working with them to get the Clipper 13-14 crews focussed on raising money for them. I am excited to continue as part of the Trust and the Clipper Race”

Peter first learnt about the Trust and their work in 2009, after winning an auction prize for the chance to sail with Ellen MacArthur for the day on an Open 60. This led him to fundraise for the charity throughout his Clipper Race voyage.

“Each time I talked with people about my race, I let them know I was raising money for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. The choice to support them was easy, the challenges young people face battling with cancer are huge compared to the challenge I was about to face”

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