Race director Peter Sluce with designer Alan Livermore and the new race trophies.

LAUNCESTON fine furniture designer Alan Livermore has given the Hydro Tasmania Three Peaks Race the perfect 21st birthday present.
The craftsman has created two new trophies for the first finishers in the main racing division, marking the first year that the category will award monohull and multihull entries separately.
``They are made of an end-grain balsa and foam sandwich, which is how a lot of boats are made, so they look heavy but are actually quite light,’’ Mr Livermore said.
``The boats are solid Huon pine; the shape of the monohull’s bow is based on past winner Haphazard – I downloaded the study plans of the boat online.’’
The model multihull was designed from a bow-on photograph of four-time race winner and defending champion Slingshot, a 9m Chamberlin catamaran.
Brass plaques engraved with the winners’ names will be added to the trophies’ outer edges.
Mr Livermore has been a member of the Three Peaks Race’s host club, Port Dalrymple Yacht Club, for 12 years.
``I was happy to make the trophies because we are unable to go to the club working bees, so this is our contribution to the club,’’ he said on behalf of himself and wife Katie, who sails a Corsair dinghy.
``All up they probably took about four days to make and I think they’ve worked out quite well.’’
Race director and PDYC commodore Peter Sluce said he asked Mr Livermore to fashion the trophies because of his renowned design skills.
He said the large Huon pine mirror that has served as the coveted race trophy for 20 years would be retired to PDYC’s Beauty Point club-house.

Have you ever wondered what you'd eat if you had to run 130km+ in three days? How about pasta? And pasta, and pasta, and pasta... and chocolate, and a few energy bars just for good measure... Well that's breakfast, anyway.

Looks like it is going to be a slow trip to Flinders!

Photo by : PAUL SCAMBLER

Tim Piper, left, and Mark Padgett, compete in last year's race for Jailhouse Grill.
Tasmanian multi-sport athlete and past Three Peaks competitor Mark Padgett’s tips on the running form for the 2009 race:

This year’s Three Peaks race is expected to be a close event, despite the fact that there are less boats competing than last year.
For the runners in the race, Good Friday is the culmination of months of training, dodging injuries and trying to avoid sickness, whilst covering anywhere between 80km and 180km of running per week. In the past runners such as Paul McKenzie, Mark Guy, Andrew Kromar, Michael Wheatley and Tim Sloan have been some of the most successful and an average week of training for these competitors would be well over 160km.
The irony with the Three Peaks is that often the result is decided on the sailing aspect of the race, and the focus is therefore on the boats rather than the runners. Last year was an exception to the norm with the final result decided on the run up Mount Wellington with the top three teams reaching Constitution Dock at the same time.
This year, there are several top running teams in the race and I would expect some very fast times. Andrew Kromar will team up with Launceston builder Clarence Blake. This combination will run for Westbury-Mersey Pharmacy and are well suited with their off-road speed. Clarence and Andrew fought it out in this year’s Triple Top race, proving their compatibility.
Despite some early injury concerns Tim Piper is in great form and has been training hard the last few weeks with last year’s King of the Mountain winner Paul McKenzie. Paul has taken this year off and his usual runner partner Mark Guy, one of Tasmania’s most accomplished athletes will team up with Tim on Neil Buckby Motors Subaru.
Aubrey Hendricks showed his great form winning the 12-hour race at St Leonards a few weeks ago and would most likely be looking forward to the spectacular scenery the Three Peaks offers rather than the monotony of running in circles. He will team up with Doug Grubert, known for his excellent endurance and secret training regime.
Other runners to watch are multi-sport specialist John Kent from Victoria (BWR Multihulls), Adrian Young from Westbury (Sullvians Cove Whisky) and local John Claridge (Haphazard) who will run with his sailing mate turned runner Tristan Gourlay. The weekend forecast looks like the runners will be getting plenty of rest between each leg and some fast times should follow.