The largest yacht race of its kind in the world took place on June 23 and with a record 1,603 boats completing the 50 mile course round the Isle of Wight, writes Flavia Bateson.

Winchester sailors counted podium places and Edward Donald took the top trophy Gold Roman Bowl, beating 590 other boats in the IRC Division for regular racers.

Edward was racing his Folkboat Madelaine, named after his 10-year-old daughter Maddie. He and his crew Dan Rigden and Rob Reed met as dads through their children attending Western Primary School. Edward received his trophy from double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson. She had also taken part, racing a J/80 sportsboat, and competing against her usual crew Annie Lush and Lucy MacGregor.

For the 150 members of the Island Sailing Club race management team, race day had been a long one - up at 3am in readiness for the opening cannon to be fired by broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh at 5am. First to finish was Dame Ellen MacArthur racing a new high-tech multihull Extreme 40. She crossed the line just after 0818 hours, completing the course in 4 hours 6 minutes 3 seconds but, despite hitting 29 knots boat speed after The Needles, she was outside the current record set in 2001 by French skipper Francis Joyon of 3 hours 8 minutes 29 seconds.

Property developer Mike Slade racing his brand new Farr designed canting keel ICAP Leopard took line honours in the monohulls and was just 17 minutes 25 seconds off the record he set himself in 2001 of 4 hours 5 minutes 40 seconds. The Seacart 30 Buzz (Philip Cotton) was the fourth boat back and took the Golden Miller Challenge Cup as top GP multihull. Benny Kelly, from Winchester, followed his Raymarine Warsash Spring Series win with another, topping the IRC Group 0 in the TP52 Panthera. Stewart Hawthorn was just over three minutes off the pace, taking second place in Jump in IRC1. The winner was one of the overseas entries - Alejandro Perez Calzada from Barcelona in Charisma. Ben Goodland from Christchurch took the MOCRA Multihull prize in Team Eberspacher.

Jonny Malbon in Artemis Ocean Racing won the Lombard Trophy for the Open 60 class with Dee Caffari's Aviva second. Sir Robin-Knox Johnston suffered an injury to his arm and handed the helm of his Open 60 to Robin Aisher, Admiral of the Island Sailing Club. He was nonetheless in good humour commenting that it was better to have a mishap within sight of Cowes rather than in the Southern Ocean.

Campbell Fleming, from title sponsor JPMorgan Asset Management, was also pleased to announce a record £80,000 had been raised for charity through the event and there were many tales of courage and determination amongst the boats involved. These included Robin Wood. He is the skipper of Noumanon and suffering from cancer himself. He was determined to complete the race which he did in just over nine hours. After the finish he declared he was not at all exhausted but happily sipping whisky.

Ten brave children, who have battled with cancer, were racing to help the Ellen MacArthur Trust. Laura West (16) is a pupil at Kings School. Ellen was full of praise for these determined youngsters and said: "When you see how happy they are on the boat, so passionate about life and so full of life, you can't help but be amazed. It's inspirational."

Dan Monk from Cowes is in remission from leukaemia. He was crewing for Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year Katie Miller on Elektra. The pair had encountered gear failure during the race but had improvised and were not going to give up their charity attempt. They were the last boat to finish after nearly 13 hours out on the water but in doing so also helped the Trust.

Most of all perhaps, the race is a family occasion. One competitor commented: "It's as good as Christmas for a get together, only less shopping."

Yacht designer David Thomas from Warsash was enjoying his 75th birthday aboard one of his own creations, the quarter tonner Sgt Pepper. He was with his sons and grandson.

Bella Fellows is aged seven and finished her first race round the island with her grandfather, former ISC Commodore John Dudley on Pinball Wizard, which came third in class. Bella was "pleased as punch" to be given her pewter tankard to show she had successfully completed the challenge.

Peter Dickson, Commodore of the Island Sailing Club said: "Next year's race is on Saturday, June 28, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back for another great JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race."