Allen & Overy LLP take the BMW City Challenge

by PR on 1 Oct 2007
Law firm Allen & Overy LLP (A & Eau) lifted the BMW City Challenge sailing trophy for the second time at London’s Docklands yesterday. The defending champions, skippered by experienced husband and wife duo Graham and Julia Bailey (nee Salt), clinched victory by two points ahead of NIR Capital and JP Morgan Asset Management.

Other members of the winning crew included Kevin Young, Dylan Potter and former employee, Kirstin Gilbert who have all worked in the firm’s Structured & Asset Finance Group, based in Canary Wharf. Along with the trophy, the crew will each enjoy a unique BMW driving experience around the famous Nürburgring race-circuit in Germany.

Staged in the waters of Royal Victoria Dock, against the striking city backdrop, the weather conditions held out and provided sufficient breeze to complete four of the scheduled five races. Despite an impressive challenge from NIR Capital, who won two races outright, it was the consistent teamwork of the A & Eau crew that prevailed, securing top three finishes in the first three races. Despite also tying for second on 13 points, ‘The Wrecking Crew (Accenture) had to settle for fourth place after narrowly missing out on the prizes in the count back.

Allen & Overy LLP Partner, Julia Salt commented, 'We can’t quite believe it, it was a really tight regatta and the competition was definitely stronger than last year. The final race saw lots of place changes with us even lying last at one point, so we were absolutely delighted to discover we’d won. The series has offered a great opportunity to sail regularly throughout the summer. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be back next year to defend our title again.'

This year’s BMW City Challenge series began in May, and saw an increase in entries from 22 to 32 teams. Jointly organised by the Royal Thames Yacht Club and Berkeley Marine, crews of five have been battling it out over the summer evenings in identical Beneteau First Class 8s (eight metre keelboats). Winners of the four heats qualified automatically for the final, whilst the six next best finishers competed for the remaining four places in the semi-finals, which also took place yesterday.

BMW’s sponsorship of the City Challenge represents a grassroots addition to the manufacturer’s extensive yachting involvement which also includes the BMW Sailing Cup and partnership of the America’s Cup entry, BMW ORACLE Racing.

Peter Walker, General Manager, Sports Marketing, BMW (UK) commented 'The series has proved tremendously popular, attracting entrants from throughout the City, who have enjoyed some competitive sailing on their doorstep after work. Our congratulations go to Allen & Overy for securing the title for the second year running.'

The winning teams will be presented with their trophies at the official BMW City Challenge prize giving which will take place at The Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge on October 15, 2007.

Final overall positions

1st Eau 3 3 2 5 1 6 5 11 11pts
2nd NIR Capital 8 8 1 9 3 12 1 13 13
3rd JP Morgan Asset Management 1 1 3 4 7 11 2 13 13
4th The Wrecking Crew 2 2 5 7 2 9 4 13 13
5th IPC 4 4 6 10 4 14 3 17 17
6th Royal Thames Yacht Club 5 5 4 9 6 15 8 23 23
7th Clifford Chance 7 7 8 15 5 20 6 26 26
8th Ernst & Young 6 6 7 13 8 21 7 28 28