BT with Bundock at helm finishes 3rd - iShares Cup

'BT Skipper and crew - iShares Cup Final in Amsterdam' Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

Nick Moloney, Darren Bundock, Ed Barney and Steve Mitchell, the crew of BT Extreme 40 are celebrating tonight after a fantastic result in the 2008 iShares Cup Extreme 40 Sailing Series.

After five months of intense competition and a roller-coaster ride of results, BT had a storming final regatta to take second place in Amsterdam - and gained the advantage over their closest competitors, Holmatro and Oman Sail, to secure third place overall in the 2008 iShares Cup season. The America's Cup Defenders Alinghi won four of the five events, a hard-fought victory pushed by TEAMORIGIN throughout the season, and went on to take the iShares Cup championship title in the Dutch capital, 5 points ahead TEAMORIGIN and 12 ahead BT.

'Yeah! Mission accomplished - it was really hard but we did it. The last two days were really full on, we had to concentrate on our main objective without putting too much pressure on us. We tried to do our best and to do as few mistakes as possible. The team has been fantastic, we thought that we could do it since the last event in Kiel, we were getting closer and closer. And we really had a lot of fun. It's awesome, we are really happy tonight' said Nick.

After a fantastic season of racing at five venues across Europe that produced plenty of drama, the iShares Cup ended this weekend in Amsterdam.

The shifty wind conditions on the IJ-Haven waterway and a huge tussle for third place overall guaranteed a great spectacle for the Dutch spectators.

The three Extreme 40s of BT, Holmatro and Oman Sail had been trading places all weekend and in the heat of battle plenty of on-the-water protests were appealed - a penalty turn can take you from first to last in just minutes.

Helmsman Darren Bundock replaced Andrew Walsh for the Dutch event and was delighted to have bolstered the team's ability to take third in the overall series: 'It's fantastic that we can mix it up with the America's Cup guys, especially being a really fresh team for this event with me just stepping in and the other guys having been full-on for the whole season. It's great for the BT team to be right up there at this event, with our goal of being on the overall podium,' he said.

BT in the iShares Cup 2008: Key Figures

- 3rd on the overall iShares Cup podium with 34 points
- 8 races victories across the season
- 79 races in total in 5 European venues (Lugano, Hy?res, Cowes, Kiel, Amsterdam)
- 0 capsizes (the series saw 7 other capsizes) but a big collision with BMW ORACLE Racing in Cowes - all part of the crash and burn nature of this circuit!
- 43 VIP guests sailed onboard BT during racing in the special 5th man spots
- 6 BT crew from the UK and Australia competed throughout the season (Nick Moloney, AUS; Andrew Walsh, UK; Ed Barney, UK; Steve Mitchell, UK; Nigel King, UK; and Darren Bundock, AUS) supported by 3 shore crew (Ollie Dickens, Ian Fiddaman, Marine Derrien)

www.btteamellen.com

Final results of the iShares Cup 2008:
1st Alinghi, 46 points
2nd TEAM ORIGIN, 41 points
3rd BT, 34 points
4th Oman Sail, 29 points
5th Holmatro, 27 points
6th JPMorgan Asset Management, 26 points
7th Team Aqua, 22 points
8th Volvo Ocean race, 17 points
9th iShares, 17 points
10th Tommy Hilfiger, 14 points

Final results of the fifth and final event in Amsterdam:
1st Alinghi, 156 points
2nd BT, 132 points
3rd Oman Sail, 109 points
4th Tommy Hilfiger, 105 points
5th TEAMORIGIN, 101 points
6th JPMorgan Asset Management, 100 points
7th, Holmatro, 97 points
8th iShares, 85 points
9th Volvo Ocean Race, 83 points
10th Team Aqua, 74 points