Macgregor and team lift the Busan Cup 

British crew win top women's match racing event

Lucy Macgregor and her team overcame six days of tough competition to clinch the ISAF Grade 1 Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race title in Korea on Wednesday (4 November).

The 22-year-old skipper and her crew – comprising her sisters Nicky and Kate, Macgregor’s Skandia Team GBR teammate Ally Martin, and Jody Slater – were one of 12 teams from nine nations contesting the event, which included six skippers ranked within the top 20 of the women’s match racing world rankings.  

Macgregor’s team got their regatta off to a flying start, notching up straight wins in all of their round-robin matches – including an impressive victory over world number one Claire Leroy earned in spite of the Brits ripping their spinnaker at the first windward mark.  

Having topped the round-robin phase, the team then went on to face the French crew, helmed by Anne-Claire Le Berre, in the semi-final, where they pick up another straight 3-0 win, advancing to the final against American skipper Sally Barkow, whose all-British crew included Macgregor’s usual Skandia Team GBR crewmate Annie Lush.  

Barkow, the defending champion at the event, won the first match to take an early lead, but Macgregor and her team fought back to win the next three in a row and secure the win – and the overall Busan Cup – 3-1, having lost just one match throughout the regatta.