GigRowers Enter Anglo American Boat Race

Six men are entering the Anglo American Boat Race. Their aim is to win the race and smash the world record rowing 2010 miles non-stop and unaided around the coast of Britain.

“This is the ultimate test of Human Endurance”

www.roundgbrow2010.com

Download the official Press Release

A Unique Opportunity

In June 2010 a team of six men will attempt to write a new page in the rowing history books. The crew are not doing this to profit nor raise their personal profiles in any way, but to raise as much money as possible for a charity with international impact and appeal and set a new benchmark in one of the great adventure challenges.

They are looking for like-minded sponsors to support them on their adventure. Team work, a sense of adventure, determination and passion are all attributes that are essential in the crew and their sponsors.

The Potential Return

By partnering with the expedition, sponsors will:

• Obtain coverage through all national and international press coverage that the crew receives
• Obtain coverage through the TV documentary being made
• Be promoted via the crew’s website through a linkable company logo & company information. Previous expedition websites have received over 100,000 hits over the course of the expedition
• Be promoted by Skype, one of the expedition sponsors, to 20,000 Twitter followers and over 500,000 Facebook followers
• Receive crew motivational talks, quotes, photos and footage to use in internal or external publicity
• Be associated with a truly unique British sporting challenge that is sure to capture the imagination of both the rowing & adventure world and the general public

The Offering

A range of sponsorship packages are available to meet the needs of any company, no matter how large or small. Partnership starts from as little as £150 and from previous expedition experience crew sponsorship guarantees an excellent return on the initial investment made.

• Gold level, from £10,000 to include naming rights to the boat and expedition, logo integration into expedition logo, choice of charity to affiliate to, company profile on website from the time sponsorship is taken out, crew motivational talks, interviews, quotes and expedition videos & photos
• Silver level x 2, £5,000 for one package or £7,500 for two, to include sole use of the boat’s cabin doors & bulkheads for logo branding, company  information on website from the time sponsorship is taken out, crew interviews, quotes & photos
• Bronze level, £4,000 – £500 to include logo branding on boat and on website from the time sponsorship is taken out, crew interviews, quotes & expedition photos
• Equipment, cost on demand, to include logo branding on boat and on website from the time sponsorship is taken out, crew interviews, quotes & expedition photos
• Prize draw, £150, to include name on website from the time sponsorship is taken out. Winner will receive a sponsorship package worth £15,000. Full sponsorship package details are highlighted on page 12 of the proposal.

Additional Incentives

Added incentives including team building activities with the crew, photo shoots with boat and crew including sponsor company branding and ongoing partnership with the Anglo American Boat Race are available as part of the sponsorship packages.

The Race – www.gbrowchallenge.com

The Anglo American Boat Race 2010 is a 2010 mile circumnavigation of Great Britain in ocean rowing boats departing from Tower Bridge in London on the 1st of June. It is non-stop and unaided so crews will need to be completely self sufficient for the 3-4 weeks they will be at sea. The current record is 26 days and was set by a British Army team in 2005. An experienced six man crew stand an excellent chance of beating that record. Only one other crew has ever attempted the row. The current record holders at the end of their row in 2005. The race originated in 1872 when a New York club posted a challenge to the London Rowing Club to row a four-oared race on the Thames. It remained one of the most important races of the season until the Second World War, when it was discontinued. 2010 sees it return in its revised format.

Charity

The crew will be fundraising for a charity with international impact. The charity will be chosen to fit the corporate social responsibility remit of the crew’s title sponsor and will be announced prior to the race start.

The Boat – Sara G

Sara G is one of only three 6-man ocean rowing boats in existence. She was built in 2007 and has completed successful Tasman Sea and Atlantic Ocean crossings.

About Ocean Rowing

Ocean rowing is considered one of the top three extreme pursuits alongside polar exploration and attempts to summit Everest. Trans-Atlantic ocean rowing races have been running regularly since the early 1990s, but this is the first time an ocean rowing race has been held so close to land. The unique format, combined with advances in communication technology, make it the most accessible ocean rowing event of all time.

Connecting with the Audience

Online
The crew will micro-blog during the row, Tweeting as often as every half hour and posting photos and video clips to their website, at regular intervals during the day. The audience can choose to receive these updates in their RSS feed, in an email or via SMS. The website, hosted on Wordpress, will be highly interactive, with new content being added daily to encourage repeat traffic. Video will be hosted on YouTube, photos will be hosted on Picasa and all content will be aggregated to Facebook in order to drive maximum traffic to the website.

Documentary
A documentary intended for UK and South African terrestrial broadcast is being produced by an independent film maker. It will follow the crew’s journey from their first training session through to the finish of the race.

Press
The crew will be followed by local radio and newspapers all over the UK and South Africa and by the international rowing and boating press. With a well-known skipper at the helm and a World Record up for grabs they also anticipate excellent national press coverage.

Children
The crew will work very closely with Ludgvan Community Primary School in Penzance where one crew member teaches. They will also connect to hundreds of other children around the world securely via the internet, helping to inspire the next generation of adventurers.

The Crew

Skipper

Bill Godfrey, 39 – South Africa

In 2008 Bill won the 15-strong pairs class of the Atlantic Rowing Race. Later that year a documentary about his epic voyage aired on South African national television and he was shortlisted for the 2007/2008 South African Adventurer of the Year Award. Bill has 27 years rowing experience and has represented London Rowing Club in the prestigious Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. He now coaches rowing at home in South Africa and competes for Leander RC, South Africa. Bill Godfrey & Peter van Kets win the Atlantic Rowing Race 2007 “Superhuman effort isn’t worth a damn unless it achieves results.” Ernest Shackleton.

Rowers

Dan Jenkins, 27 – Great Britain

Dan is an accomplished sailor. He has been dinghy sailing since the age of six and has competed in sailing races in the UK and the Canary Islands. He has also crewed on a tall ship. He has been rowing competitively for two years and is the men’s squad captain at Furnivall Sculling Club in London.

Joe Leiserach, 25 – Great Britain

In 2008 Joe rowed from London to Paris in a 10-man crew. He has been rowing for seven years. He has competed in the top crew at Newcastle University and in an Army and Combined Services crew. He has raced at Henley Royal Regatta multiple times and won numerous medals in British and European rowing events.

Jonny Hewett, 28 – Great Britain

Jonny has been rowing gigs since his teens and has competed at international level for Roseland Gig Club. He has competed in a number of UK-based endurance events including the elite category of the OM and Tough Guy. Last year he was part of a 4-man team who completed an independent and unsupported north-south ski traverse of Iceland.

Dave Pattle, 35 – South Africa

Dave has been rowing competitively since childhood and has often competed alongside Olympic rowers. He is an experienced endurance athlete and has competed in events such as the longest single stage mountain bike race in the world (230km). He was Bill’s shore manager for the 2007 Atlantic Rowing Race. “You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things – to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.” Sir Edmund Hillary.

Adam Anderson, 25 – Great Britain

Adam has been rowing gigs for more than 15 years and is one of the best gig rowers in the country. He competes for Falmouth Pilot Gig Club. His crew won the World Pilot Gig Championships and the County Pilot Gig Championships in 2002 and have held many podium positions since then. He was also County Mixed Champion in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Team Manager

Margaret Bowling

The crew has been put together and is being managed by Margaret Bowling. Margaret was the first Australian woman to row an ocean. She now runs a successful ocean rowing and polar expedition management business. Margaret’s background is in TV production management and she brings a wealth of media expertise to the project. She has worked on projects for a number of high profile brands such as Sanyo and Bebo and has held roles such as the acting head of marketing for National Geographic Television International. Margaret has consistently generated high levels of publicity for the teams that she works with, netting an excellent return on investment for sponsors.

Sponsorship Opportunities

All cash sponsors will be sent a selection of publicity photos and have the opportunity to interview the crew for press releases and company
publicity. Additional requirements can be discussed for all sponsorship packages worth £2,000 or more.

Gold level sponsorship – From £10,000
Naming Rights
The gold sponsor will be given full naming rights to the team and boat. They will be allocated the centre portion of both sides of the boat for their logo (as per the EDF Energy branding in the photo below) and will have a company profile on the website as well as their logo integrated into the crew’s logo which will appear on the website, crew clothing and all marketing materials issued by the crew.
Charity selection
The gold sponsor will work with the crew to choose an appropriate charity and will be given the opportunity to use the row as a vehicle to fundraise for the charity.
Other
The gold sponsor will be offered additional benefits including motivational talks by crew members to employees, exclusive video footage and photos, and a dedicated blog according to their requirements.

Silver level sponsorship x 2 – £5,000 each or £7,500 for both

The silver sponsor will have a linkable company logo and company information placed on the crew’s website and they will be given sole use of the cabin doors and bulkhead at either end of the boat for their logo. This will ensure they feature in publicity stills and video footage taken from the deck.

Bronze level sponsorship – £4,000 – £500
The bronze sponsors will cover the boat charter fee for Sara G. A company logo, linkable to the company’s website will be placed in both a prominent position on the crew’s website and on the side of the boat. Logo size and placement will be mutually agreed based on the value of sponsorship

Equipment sponsorship
Sponsors who donate equipment will have their logo placed on the boat, equipment where possible as well as a linkable logo on the crew’s website. The size and placement of the logo will vary according to the value of the sponsorship. The crew are looking for sponsors for the following items:

• Clothing
• Oars
• South Africa to UK return flights
• Snacks (chocolate bars, high energy food)
• Freeze dried meals
• Medical supplies
• Satellite phone and minutes
• Rugged laptop or PDA
• Cameras
• Insurance
• Charts and navigation software
• Tool kit
• Stove and fuel
• Sheepskins for seats
• Toiletries
• Sleeping bags, dry bags, crockery, drink bottles and other miscellaneous equipment from an outdoors or camping store
• Anti foul paint, shackles, rope and other miscellaneous equipment from a chandler

100 chances to enter a title sponsorship draw for just £150 each. We have 100 opportunities to enter a sponsorship prize draw for just £150 per entry. All entrants will be named on the website and the winner will receive a sponsorship package worth £15,000. All sponsorship draw entrants will have their names, linkable to their own website, listed on the crew’s website. The deadline for title, boat and race entry sponsors is the 25th of May 2010.