The world’s toughest endurance challenge, raced by everyday people from across the world, has come to a gripping end in Portsmouth almost a year after it set off.
Following one last short race around the cans in The Solent, emotional reunions took place on the docks at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, as race crew reunited with their loved ones; some 80 participants have been away for almost a year, having completed the full global route. They have joined an elite group of people who have circumnavigated the planet – more people have climbed Mount Everest than have raced around the world.
The overall winner of the Clipper 2025-26 Race is Team GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity), which was led by 26-year-old Skipper Oli Irvine and 22-year-old First Mate Otto Kurlow. The youngest professional pairing won an impressive seven out of 13 individual races and for the first time in ten years, had clinched overall victory at the end of the penultimate leg when they arrived into Washington, D.C, USA.
Speaking on arrival in Portsmouth, Oli said: “We just won the Clipper 2025-26 Race! We sailed into Gunwharf Quays, the crowds are pumping, the team is so excited, it’s just started to feel real that we have won!
“We left on 31 August last year, from this dock, and we have been to incredible places, seen things on board I never thought I’d see. We pushed hard, set high standards and the crew lived up to them every single day. It was a privilege to lead a group of people who want to push hard.”
After a gripping final stage to the race, Team London Business School took second and Team Scotland took third place.
It’s an impressive podium:
- 50 percent of the podium professional pairings are women
- Team GOSH are the youngest Skipper and First Mate combination to ever win the Clipper Race – led by Skipper Oli Irvine, 26, and First Mate Otto Kurlow, 22.
- First all-female Skipper and First Mate pairing to podium in the Clipper Race – Heather Thomas and Millie Apperley for Team Scotland.
Team Scotland placed third after a close battle for the remaining podium spots. Skipper Heather Thomas said: “It was amazing to be back after so long. It’s an incredible feeling to take this team of amazing people around the world! It’s great to be back.
“I went into this last race with a mindset of it’ll be what it’ll be. We did our best, the team worked so hard and did their absolute best and performed really well. But at the end of the day, in ten years time nobody will be remembering who was in second or tenth place – we will remember the bonds we created, the teamwork, the resilience.”
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is the only event that trains people from all walks of life to race around the world. Some 40 percent of participants have no previous sailing experience before signing up. Led by a professional Race Skipper and First Mate pairing, the ten teams have raced over 40,000 nautical miles around the planet.
Founded by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail solo, non-stop around the world, the Clipper Race’s global route is broken down into eight individual legs. Race Crew can choose to sign up to one, multiple or all of the legs – with the latter making them part of an elite group of circumnavigators. More people have climbed Mount Everest than raced around the world. Following four weeks of mandatory training, many participants leave with more offshore sailing miles than most professional sailors accumulate in a lifetime.
