“Doing a hand-break turn at 90 miles per hour,” is how Ellen MacArthur described today’s experience at the Omega Bobsleigh Cup in St Moritz.

MacArthur who was racing head to head against fellow Omega brand ambassadors – three-times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, and Olympic Finn gold medallist Mateusz Kusnierewicz – was first out the blocks this morning but despite a super-fast run of just 1:15:15 minutes she was out-paced (just) by Coutts and had to settle for 13th. A happy-smiling Mark Turner (MacArthur’s business partner at Offshore Challenges) was, not surprisingly, satisfied with his first experience in a bob, finishing 9th overall.

Chatting to MacArthur about the experience and how it compared with moments on her record-breaking voyage aboard B&Q she said: “It was actually incredibly similar in some ways. It’s the same as surfing down a wave at night when you really don’t know what’s ahead. It reminded me a bit of being inside the boat because you can’t see what’s going to happen, it’s always moving, shaking around and going faster and you have this feeling of uncertainty, and the feeling of not being in control; the feeling of not being able to stop when you are on a wave.

“On today’s bob run I had no idea what was going to happen at the next bend, how the thing was going to react and how I would react. It was the most amazing experience and something I would love to have another go at.”

Chatting to yachtingworld.com about his experience Russell Coutts added: “I’ve never experienced anything that different; an amazing day and most certainly a talking point for many years to come.”

Other British teams out on run today included – in GBR1 team – yachting correspondents Tim Jeffery and Stuart Alexander who were fairly surprised at their relatively ‘slow’ recorded time. Actually it was only just over two seconds behind MacArthur which wasn’t bad going. However, the best British recorded time Team GBR2 – Graeme Beeson and your correspondent Sue Pelling – who recorded seventh overall with a time of 1:14:44.

Click here for amazing video footage of Ellen MacArthur’s bobrun.