by Isabel Genis
The 2010 edition of the Barcelona World Race re-launches with more support than ever
The unique and prestigious two-handed round the world race, the Barcelona World Race, has launched a campaign that will culminate in the start of its second edition, on 31 December, 2010. The most significant event in the ocean racing calendar for the next 2 years will publish its ˜Notice of Race' and open the teams' registration process on 18 June, 2009.
Alternating with the Vendée Globe as one of just two official IMOCA 60 Ocean Racing World Championship round the world races, this 'two-up' challenge links the two worlds of the solo Vendée and the fully crewed Volvo Ocean Race and will maintain its tough but rewarding 'duo' format, racing around the globe from Barcelona to Barcelona.
Since the end of the first edition (March 2008), the organization has worked steadily to consolidate sponsorship and to develop a strategy which will lead to an excellent event in the winter of 2010. Now with two main sponsors, 24 supporting partners, official suppliers and four institutional patrons, the Barcelona World Race faces its future with confidence as the third edition has already been set for 31 December, 2014. The race is proud to maintain its main sponsor, the Barcelona brewery and soft drinks company Estrella Damm, and to see Renault Spain, supporting partner in the first edition, claiming the title of joint sponsor for this second tour.
Much more than just a sailing event
The first edition of the Barcelona World Race was an unprecedented sports and media success. The race was the first ever two-handed circumnavigation and the first to have the name of a city in its title - Barcelona - in order to reinforce its identity, which will guarantee it a reliable future format and continuity. In spite of its short existence, the race has already been deemed a classic - defining its own model which is in the process of becoming a benchmark in the world of ocean racing.
The 2007 edition brought together nine boats and 18 skippers from six different nationalities, most at the top of their professional sailing careers. The figures speak for themselves as the impact generated on all mediums of communication produced a return of 45 million Euros, with a 277 million strong TV audience, 400 hours of TV (25 of which were news) broadcasted internationally. More than 5,000 articles were published in the written press and 200 activities and cultural events directly related with the race were organized. Over the 10 days before the start of the race more than 500,000 people visited the race village and watched the start from the waterfront. On 11 November 2007, 650 spectator boats in Barcelona and more than 200 in Sitges, the first mark of the race, gathered to watched the IMOCA 60s start their 27,000 mile long course. The competition was followed by sailing fans around the world with 2.9 million visitors to the races's website.
A key position in the international calendar
The Barcelona World Race, along with the Vendée Globe, are the only two round the world races in the official IMOCA calendar for the next four years. In addition, because of its format as a double-handed race, it complements the other two top-class professional circumnavigations of the international sailing calendar: the single-handed Vendée Globe and the fully crewed Volvo Ocean Race. This factor has been highly valued by the race's sailors, technicians and sponsors with regards to planning a profitable and technically integrated campaign.
A down to earth strategy for 2010: strong support for skippers and sponsors
The Barcelona World Race was created by OC Events and FNOB (Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona - Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing.) For this and future editions, FNOB is now the exclusive organizer of the race and OC Events will operate in a consultancy capacity, in particular by marketing the event on an international scale. The team is readying to face the challenge of organizing and promoting the second edition of a sporting event that is expected to exceed even the expectations of the first.
Continuing the trend set during the first edition, whilst at the same time adapting to the new reality brought about by economic recession, the Barcelona World Race 2010 has defined two clear objectives in its general strategy:
- To set up the necessary resources and strategies to facilitate the funding of the skippers' campaigns
- To optimize the return on investment for all team sponsors.
A central element in this strategy will be the financial, logistic and communication support package set up to enable teams to cut the cost of their campaigns by up to 20%. The details of this support package will be announced in the 'pre-Notice of Race', to be published on Thursday 18 June.
On that same day the official entry list will be opened and the countdown to the start of the biggest ocean-racing event of the next two years will start.
The rendez vous: 31 December 2010, Barcelona
Main Sponsors:
ESTRELLA DAMM and RENAULT
Official Partners:
JOHNSON&JOHNSON - MC NEIL - ARBORA AUSONIA - BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM - CLINICAS
VITALDENT - COLA CAO - LA PIARA - ANETO - HIPERCOR - CONDIS - DANONE - LECHE
PASCUAL - LACTALIS - GROUPAMA - AXA - LIBERTY SEGURO - CEPSA
Official Suppliers:
GRAMONA - GALERIA DEL COLECCIONISTA - PANINI - DECATHLON - PEROX FARMA - SILESTONE BY COSENTINO - MB 92 - MARINA PORT VELL
Institutional Patrons:
AJUNTAMENT DE BARCELONA - FIRA DE BARCELONA - CAMBRA D'INDUSTRIA, COMERÇ I NAVEGACIÓ DE BARCELONA - AUTORITAT PORTUÀRIA DE BARCELONA
Barcelona World Race
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