News

The much publicised Beauty v Brawn cross-Channel dragon boat challenge which set off from Dover yesterday (25 August) has been won by the men, but the Sisterhood crew were just minutes behind when they arrived in France.

Despite no Kate Middleton, one broken collarbone and being inside the world's busiest shipping lane the Sisterhood gave true meaning to girl power by conquering the Channel in their dragon boat.

The adventure was dreamt up by Emma Sayle, a 29-year-old involved in a company organising upmarket sex parties.

She and Catherine Loveless, a 33-year-old charity worker, decided to take on the Brotherhood, a group of men who were aiming to break the existing record of seven hours and 45 minutes for crossing the Channel in a dragon boat.

The Sisterhood have been training for nine months, but as they began their voyage from the beach below the famous White Cliffs yesterday, their image was dented by Emma admitting that controlling the crew was 'like herding a bunch of cats'.

The all-girl team smashed the previous record for crossing the English Channel in a dragon boat and raised £100,000 for children's charities.

The male Brotherhood crew crossed from Dover to Calais in three hours 30 minutes, smashing the previous record of seven hours 45 minutes.

The female Sisterhood team arrived in France just 12 minutes behind, but coastguards reported a third crew, who joined the race at the last minute, capsized a mile from the finish.

Prince William's on-off girlfriend, Kate Middleton, was due to join the Sisterhood team but had to pull out because of security concerns for her, caused by the media coverage of the event.

The Beauty v Brawn cross-Channel challenge was raising money for the Babes in Arms charity, which sponsors research into abnormalities in newborn babies, and the children's hospice charity, Chase.