The three-day event is the biggest annual UK gathering of senior construction and property industry figureheads. The LBCC is not only a mixture of great sailing, networking and robust partying, it also raises money for worthy charities. This year over £100k is expected to be distributed amongst the event charities, including the Jubilee and Cirdan Sailing Trusts.

This year The Byrne Group stepped up its involvement in the largest annual industry sailing regatta in Europe with three of its members, Byrne Brothers Formwork, Ellmer Construction and Chorus group, becoming Gold sponsors. A Byrne Group BBQ was held at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on the Friday evening attracting over 120 guests, a selection of the crews present were Byrne Brothers, Ellmer Construction, Chorus Group, Bovis Lend Lease, Bovis/Grosvenor/Grand Arcade, Mace, Leslie Jones Architects and Howard Holdings. The Gala night on Saturday saw Michael Byrne presenting the 'Byrne Group Top Contractors Trophy' to worthy winners Mitie Engineering Services.

There were two crews participating in this years Challenge Cup from Byrne Group member companies, Ellmer Construction racing in class 2 aboard the 'Euphorix' and Byrne Brothers racing in class 8 aboard 'Wishful Thinking'. We congratulate both crews on all their hard work on the Solent, their biggest challenge, along with the other 237 boats, was finding any wind for the first 2 days resulting in the cancellation of the first 2 races. However, the third race brought healthy wind speeds and both crews should feel proud of their results in the testing conditions.

Ellmer Constructions crew finished 3rd in the IRC Class 2 'racing', 4th in the Contractors racing category and 23rd overall out of 239 crews. Byrne Brothers crew finished 5th in the IRC Class 8 'cruising' and 10th in the specialist subcontractors racing category.

The Byrne Group would like to thank the guests and staff who attended this years LBCC, everyone totally embraced the spirit of the event thus ensuring the experience will live long and fondly in the memory, as a selection of photograph's taken over the weekend will vouch for.

October 2005