The Chief Medical Advisor Dr Tim Spalding (orthopaedic consultant in Coventry , UK), Dr Mark Tomson (a family doctor/ sailing doctor from Hamble, UK) and the Medical Co-ordinator to the Volvo Ocean Race , Timo Malinen (Chiropractor from Hamble, UK)

Game, set and match to ABN AMRO ONE

Today, ABN AMRO ONE crossed the line in last place.  But who cares? With a total of 96 points, the team has won the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 with two legs to spare, but it gives a certain piquancy that the team, which has been so dominant for so long, should come last in the last leg.

“It’s my Everest, my Olympic rings, my childhood dream,“ said Mike Sanderson (NZ), the skipper of the Dutch boat the ABN AMRO ONE team affectionately call Black Betty, when he won leg seven in Portsmouth.  This was the point in the Volvo Ocean Race when the team knew they could not be beaten, but they still had two more legs to complete before they could finish the race in Goteborg.   

As Mike Sanderson held aloft Fighting Finish, the striking Waterford Crystal winner’s trophy, presented to him and his team by HRH Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, surrounded by 120,000 people who had watched the final stage of leg nine unfold, the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 concluded.

“Who cares about this leg”, said Sanderson on the dock.  “We have won the Volvo Ocean Race and that is what it is all about. There is nothing wrong with today and the result, I promise you that.  Gothenburg is the home of the Volvo Ocean Race and it is just great to be here.  It was a bit slow getting in, but being here is just fantastic. 

“This is the best dream for all of us.  We wanted to win the Volvo Ocean Race, but unfortunately it was a bit of slow bus to get to the party.  It is a dream come true for us at ABN AMRO and we are just over the moon with the result.

“I am not going to make any promises now on the dockside, but the Volvo Ocean Race is a wonderful race.  We all love it and there is a good chance that we will all be back. “

And with that Mike Sanderson was ceremoniously thrown in to the water by the shore crew, swiftly followed by the rest of the team.

OVERALL LEADERBOARD (points not ratified)

LEG NINE FINISH POSITIONS (points not ratified)