01-HELLO layout

EXCLUSIVE
KATE MIDDLETON
CHANNELS HER ENERGIES IN A SPORTING
NEW DIRECTION AS ONE OF THE SISTERHOOD
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‘They might look highmaintenance — they’re
an attractive bunch of girls —
but they’re not. You won’t
find anyone complaining
about breaking a nail’
‘Kate’s just a lovely girl with
a great sense of humour, a
great personality. She fits in
perfectly. She’s very sporty,
yet also very feminine’
t 8am last Friday, Kate
A
Middleton completed a tough
one-hour training session with an all-
watch a training session. “There’s
no diva-ness or anything. She’s just
a lovely girl with a great sense of
humour, a great personality. She just
fits in perfectly. She’s very sporty, yet
also very feminine.”
The women take on challenging
sporting events – as well as socialising
together – and they aim to raise as
much money for charity as possible
along the way. On 25 August they
will be crossing the English Channel
in the dragon boat, competing
against an all-male team known as
The Brotherhood.
All of the crew need to be physically and mentally strong – and
Kate has proved to be an invaluable
member of the team. “When Kate
joined we were very firm that she
trained and she was capable, otherwise you can’t justify giving her a
place,” explains Emma. “It wasn’t a
case of us saying, ‘Let’s get a token
celebrity.’”
Kate attends the early morning
training three days a week. She will
“100 per cent” be taking part in the
cross-Channel paddle – in spite of
newspaper reports to the contrary –
and she and Emma will take turns to
man the tiller at the back of the boat.
Emma says that they’ve both been
chosen to take on that role because
it’s “hard work”.
“The tiller is very heavy and
you’ve got to be pretty co-ordinated,
because it moves in the opposite way
to how your brain works – if you go
left, the boat turns right. Plus, you’re
moving the boat from the back so
you’ve got to have that whole spatial
awareness.
“Both me and Kate are big tennis
players, so we have the hand-eye coordination. Plus, mentally, standing
on the back of the boat is tough.
Kate has experience of sailing, so
she’s perfect for it. We’ll be mic-ed
up so that everyone can hear us
giving instructions and keeping
people motivated.”
Their longest training session so
far has been four and a half hours
and they are expected to cross from
Dover to Cap Gris Nez, near Calais,
in about seven hours. “Dragon boats
aren’t designed for the sea,” laughs
Emma. “So standing on the back
with the waves, one of us could go
flying off at some stage. If I knock
Kate off the back, I’m not going to
be allowed back into England!”
There is a great camaraderie in
The Sisterhood, which also includes
Bean Sopwith, a freeclimber who
appeared in Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline
Junkie 2, and Debra Searle, who has
rowed single-handedly across the
Atlantic Ocean, and was awarded
the MBE. Alicia Fox-Pitt sits in the
boat alongside her sister, actress
and fashion buyer Laurella – their
brother is William Fox-Pitt, a threeday eventing champion.
Emma explains that “what goes
on in the boat stays in the boat” and
they don’t quiz Kate about her
relationship with William. “It’s
female Chinese dragon boat team,
then helped carry the heavy canoe
out of the Thames in Chiswick, west
London. Despite such an early start
after partying at London’s Mahiki
nightclub until midnight the night
before, Prince William’s girlfriend
still managed to look immaculate.
“Oh she’s stunning,” says Emma
Sayle, leader of the crew, while
talking exclusively to HELLO!. “The
thing about Kate is that she’s
naturally beautiful. She doesn’t turn
up caked in make-up.”
Kate has fitted seamlessly into the
team, known as The Sisterhood and
comprising successful, down-toearth, friendly young women. Each
member has been introduced to the
group through a friend or family –
Kate joined in April after a recommendation by Alicia Fox-Pitt, with
whom she attended Marlborough
College in Wiltshire.
“She’s a gorgeous girl, she’s got an
amazing aura about her,” says
Emma, who invited HELLO! along to
Sisterhood founder Emma Sayle (above) says Kate (right) fits in perfectly with the rest of the crew: “There’s no diva-ness or anything.” The Sisterhood
has been preparing for the charity challenge against a men’s crew, the Brotherhood, since last autumn. A regular group of 21 turns out for training
on the Thames every week, among them these intrepid paddlers (below, left to right): Antonia Bothner, Lucy Egerton, Caroline Searle, Annie
Coleman, Natalie Sisson, Camilla Lavagna Slater, Lisa Marriage, Amy Sharpe, Amanda Cherry, Laurella Fox-Pitt, Emma and Catherine Loveless
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around the Venice canals, and we sang
our way around with songs like Rule
Britannia and Jerusalem.”
There are 19 in the boat, with two
reserves. “Considering there are 21
girls, there has been no bitching,” says
Emma. “They might look high-maintenance – they’re a really attractive
bunch of girls – but they’re not. You
won’t find anyone complaining about
breaking a nail.”
They have been good-natured
about the paparazzi attention they’ve
received since Kate joined the team.
Photographers are frequently spotted
on the side of the Thames and Emma
says that Kate copes well with her fame.
“And none of the other girls have
suddenly started wearing make-up to
training or sucking up to Kate.”
They are amused by the fact that
they have a potential future Queen in
their boat. “It’s quite ironic that one of
our sponsors, a fashion label, is called
Queen,” laughs Emma. “Something
like that just sums us up, we’re very
tongue in cheek.”
Emma is no stranger to media
attention herself – she created a stir by
founding two adult entertainment
companies. She has also been named
in London listings magazine Time Out’s
Movers and Shakers list. She now runs
a club for extreme sports enthusiasts,
Destination Mars, and spends much of
her time organising events for The
Sisterhood such as cocktail and
canapés evenings. “I just love it,” she
says. “And mum tells me that I’ve been
organising my teddies since I was two.”
Emma founded the crew after taking
a group of people to Cornwall last
September to take part in a quadrathon. “One of the guys, Richard
Pullan, heads up The Brotherhood
and said he wanted to do something
involving the Channel this year. I was
with a couple of other girls and we
said we’d launch The Sisterhood and
race them. We’ve done an event
pretty much every month since.”
This Friday, they will hold a
fundraising party at the Adam Street
private members’ club in Central
London – Kate is unable to attend
due to a prior commitment. The
Sisterhood is also preparing a 2008
calendar, The Art of Sport, in which
the crew (though not Kate) will
be naked – apart from bodypaint
PHOTO: REX FEATURES
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her private life. She probably gets so
many people asking about it, but on the
boat she can just switch off and have a
giggle.
“All of the girls are very successful
in what they do – and Kate is one of
them,” she adds. “If she had been some
stuck-up diva, it would have been
different – but she’s not, she’s great.
She’s a very switched on, intelligent,
down-to-earth girl.
“There is a lot of gossiping in that
boat,” adds Emma. “So we will talk –
and sing – our way across the Channel.
Some of us did the Vogalonga race
Kate puts her back into it (above) while Emma takes the helm. “When Kate joined we were very firm that she
trained and she was capable, otherwise you can’t justify giving her a place,” says Emma. Left: Kate waits with
the rest of the crew (left) while coach Cameron Taylor pulls them ashore after another gruelling training session
‘Oh she’s stunning. The thing about
Kate is that she’s naturally beautiful.
She doesn’t turn up caked in make-up’
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Kate at the helm on the Thames as the
Sisters up the pace ahead of the crossChannel trip on 25 August. Dragon boat
racing dates back 2,000 years to fertility
ceremonies on the rivers of southern
China. Competing crews used to throw
stones at each other and lash out with
canes – not The Sisterhood’s style
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Only force eight gales will stop The Sisterhood’s 21-nautical mile paddle across the busiest shipping lanes in the world. “We’ve done a lot of
capsize drill, but we don’t want to be practising it every 10 metres,” says Emma. She and Kate will swap helming duties (right) on the voyage,
but Emma jokes that she won’t be allowed back in the country if she lets the potential future Queen fall off the stern while she’s steering
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– and photographed with various
professional sportsmen, including
England cricketer Andrew Flintoff.
Two weeks after the Channel
crossing, they will take part in the
Thames Great River Race.
The Sisterhood – including Kate –
all socialise together. “We’ll all go for
breakfast,” says Emma. “A lot of us live
around the Fulham, Chelsea area.
There’s a restaurant we go to that
doesn’t normally open until lunch
or dinner, but they’ll cook us
breakfast and we all end up in there.”
Emma says it helps that all of the
women are well connected – they
have managed to get sponsorship for
their boat, free wet weather clothing
and even champagne for their afterrace party. Of course, Kate’s participation has helped with the publicity.
“I’m not going to deny that that is
brilliant,” says Emma.
They are hoping to raise £100,000
for two charities. One is the CHASE Ben
Hollioake Fund, which helps provide
support for children who are not
expected to live beyond 19, and
their families. One of the “sisters”,
Catherine Loveless, is the charity’s
fund manager.
Emma was influential in the choice
of the second charity, The Babes in
Arms Appeal, which carries out
research into cot death, still birth
and infant abnormalities. “They do
amazing work,” says Emma, who
works voluntarily to promote the
organisation. “There are some big
charities where you give money and
around 90p per £1 goes on fat cat
salaries, but with this charity around
95p per £1 actually goes straight into
the research.”
The crew has raised around £60,000
so far. As Prince William inherited his
share of his late mother’s estate on
his 25th birthday in June, will he be
making a substantial donation? “Who
knows?” laughs Emma. “All of the girls
are asking friends and family – perhaps
I should have a word with Kate!”
Brunette Kate, also 25, who works as an
accessories buyer for high street store
Jigsaw, is expected to join William
at a secret holiday location soon –
‘Her relationship
with William is her private
life. She probably gets
so many people asking
about it, but on the boat
she can just switch off
and have a giggle’
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Kate and her mates show teamwork
in another practice run (above). She
joined The Sisterhood thanks to an
introduction by Alicia Fox-Pitt, a
friend from her days at Marlborough
College. As she clambers out of the
dragon boat (left) Kate shows the red
Croc plastic sandals which have
become unofficial crew uniform
he finishes his armoured reconnaissance troop leader’s course in
Dorset on 1 August.
While William was involved with
his army training last week, Kate was
partying at Mahiki on both Tuesday
and Thursday nights – but still
managed to fulfil her Sisterhood
training duties. “That pretty much
sums up the girls,” says Emma.
“We’re a group of girls with big
social lives, but it’s about balancing
it out. You can go out till midnight
or 1am and as long as you don’t
really drink, you can get up at 6am
and you’ll be fine.”
They are planning a big afterrace party. “We’ll be high on
adrenaline,” says Emma.
H
“We’ll party hard.”
INTERVIEW: DAWN EMERY AND
MADELEINE KINGSLEY
PHOTOS: MIKE DAINES.
MARTIN LEAVER/LEON MCGOWRAN/
BIGPICTURESPHOTO.COM
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To make a donation visit
justgiving.com/sisterhoodchannelchallenge