Mustafa Ingham and his team-mates on board the 100-foot yacht InfoTrack had plenty to be proud of after securing a podium finish in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race in Australia yesterday.

Christian Beck’s super maxi finished second in an overall fleet of 157 entries, the fourth largest number of entries in the race’s history, after completing the 628-nautical mile course with an elapsed time of 1 day, 19hr 14min 42sec.

Having set sail from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, InfoTrack crossed the finish line in the port city of Hobart at 8.14am yesterday, 44 minutes behind race record holder and 2016 Newport Bermuda Race winner Comanche.

Wild Oats XI, last year’s race winner, crossed the line in third just shy of an hour after InfoTrack.

InfoTrack pushed leader Comanche hard all the way and managed to narrow the gap to seven-nautical miles early yesterday morning.

However, Comanche’s gamble to steer offshore after the wind lightened with three miles to go ultimately paid off as InfoTrack was unable to match the leader’s boat speed.

Comanche holds the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race course record, which stands at 19:36:9, as well as the Newport Bermuda Race record, which stands at 34:42:53.

InfoTrack’s podium display was an improvement on their fourth-place finish last year after a protracted battle with Wild Oats XI, Black Jack and Comanche.

Beck’s super maxi is also a former Sydney Hobart Race winner and course record holder, as well as a two-times Newport Bermuda Race winner.

Ingham, who represented Team BDA in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in 2017, was making his second straight appearance in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, having made his debut in the prestigious offshore race last year.

The 23-year-old obtained offshore yachtmaster status after completing an apprenticeship at the Volvo Ocean Race Academy in 2017 during which he met one of his mentors who was influential in getting him involved in the Sydney Hobart Race last year when he also made his offshore racing debut.

Ingham was one of two Bermuda sailors involved in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race that year, the other being Emily Nagel, who competed on board the 69-foot yacht Naval Group.

At press time, Nagel and her team-mates were eighth, 48 miles from the finish and on course to achieve their goal of improving upon their eleventh-place showing last year.

Bermuda sailor Nagel is among a vastly experienced crew handpicked by skipper Sean Langman, who is making his 29th appearance in the race and is regarded as one of Australia’s most experienced offshore yachtsman.

Nagel, who has a master’s degree in engineering with naval architecture, has considerable blue-water experience under her belt having also competed in other offshore races such as the Volvo Ocean Race, Rolex Fastnet Race and Royal Ocean Racing Club Caribbean 600.