Monsoon Cup 2010 - A huge focus on sailing sports skill development

by Miyeera Navaretna on 4 Aug 2011 The Monsoon Cup 2010, the final stage of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) recorded yet another successful year of positive figures on its brand valuation audit. The Return on Investment (ROI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Valuation Report was prepared by BrandAdvantage and MSC Technology Centre Sdn Bhd, while the media reports were completed by Boulder Creek International, Media247, Meltwater and Repucom.

The race was broadcast to 176 countries via 19 broadcasters and the total household reach for broadcast alone was over 1.73 billion. The broadcasters included ESPN STAR Sports, Sail TV, Eurosport, FOX Sports and Sky Sports. An addition to the international broadcast and news minutes in 2010 were the local news minutes via news reporting on Bernama News, Buletin Utama on TV3, Berita Nasional on TV1, TV9 and NTV7.

Local media value more than doubled to RM46,365,832 in 2010 while the overall TV media value shot up to a staggering RM411.1 million (USD132 million), a 63% increase since 2009. Event sponsorship of RM7.1 million was generated from various corporate partners including Telekom Malaysia, Firefly, Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa, Permanis Sandilands, Valiram Group and GBA Global Corporation. The results of the analysis concluded that Monsoon Cup 2010 had delivered an overall KPI achievement of 98.3% and the overall Return On Investment was a notable 31 times.

During the event, 1,729 jobs were created while visitor expenditure during the event was estimated at RM13.1 million, an 85.7% increase since 2009 spurning economic benefits to the businesses in Terengganu in various sectors including hotels, tourism, restaurants, boat-making, food supplies, textiles and souvenirs.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said, 'Over the years, the Monsoon Cup has gone from strength to strength, winning awards along the way and inspiring more Malaysians to take up and excel in the sport of sailing cementing its position as the second biggest sporting event in Malaysia, behind Formula 1. T-Best Events, the organiser of the Monsoon Cup are incredibly committed to developing the sport in addition to delivering a world-class event.'

Part of the success of Monsoon Cup 2010 was attributed to the Monsoon Sailing School, a four-day clinic under the patronage of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to promote match racing as a professional sport. Under the tutelage of renowned match racers including Olympic gold medallists, Belinda Stowell and Tessa Parkinson; Monsoon Cup Race Advisor, Dato’ Peter Gilmour; Singapore Asian Games coach, Brad Sheridan; and Top Match Racing Team skipper, Torvar Mirsky and trimmer, Kinley Fowler, participants learnt the finer skills of the sport. 10 elite Malaysian sailors who were handpicked by the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA) joined the programme, of which one participant, Norashikin Mohd Sayed, was named 'Most Promising Sailor'. Monsoon Sailing School presents an unique platform for our young sailors to see and feel for themselves the natural progression that sailing and match racing can offer.

Monsoon Cup Chairman, Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik, proudly acknowledged, 'Besides the outstanding ROI and KPI results, we achieved a hat trick last year at the World Match Racing Tour Awards by achieving the title of Best Overall Event 2010, and added another feather to our cap by winning two new awards – Best Media Operation 2010 and Best Race Committee 2010. We look forward to this year’s Monsoon Cup and another successful year.' Monsoon Cup website