Crowds watch Clipper race finish

Crowds of people have flocked to Liverpool to see the winners of the Clipper round-the-world yacht race cross the finishing line.

New York led the way into the River Mersey followed by home nation teams Hull and Humber and Glasgow.

Ten yachts took part in the 35,000 mile race which left Liverpool in September.

They sailed to Brazil, South Africa, Australia, China, Hawaii and through the Panama Canal to Jamaica, New York,

Nova Scotia, Cork before returning.

The Liverpool 08 yacht came fifth.

Global opportunity

Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, the first man to sail son-stop single handedly around the world, founded the Clipper race in 1995.

At the time he said he wanted everybody to have the opportunity to achieve such a remarkable feat.

"There are fewer people that have raced around the globe than have climbed Everest," he said.

"For those who had never sailed before they joined the Clipper Training programme a year or more ago, this means they have learned a new sport.

"But they have not done this in the sheltered waters of the Solent; they have done it through all the oceans of the world, in calms and in storms."

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