Volvo sails into the City

Ben Ainslie will attend the 2004 Volvo City Sailing Championships © City Championships

Volvo City Sailing Championships 2004

City Championships is pleased to announce that Volvo Car UK Limited will sponsor the City Sailing Championships for the next three years. City Championships run a bespoke Sporting Calendar, comprising of seven sports, exclusively for the benefit of members of the financial community within the City. In 2003, over 1300 people from City institutions competed in the events.

The 2004 Volvo City Sailing Championships will be held on 9th–12th September in the beautiful sailing marina of Porquerolles, an island in the Mediterranean near Toulon.

This year eighteen teams are expected to compete for a replica of the Volvo Ocean Race trophy. The Volvo Ocean Race is supporting Volvo Cars in their title sponsorship of the City Sailing Championships.

Companies already confirmed for this year’s event include Barclays, Allen & Overy, Citigroup, IBM, Invensys, Deutsche Bank and Atlantis Investment Management.

One of Britain’s most successful sailors, and Team Volvo for Life member, Ben Ainslie will be on hand at the event to offer coaching and advice to the teams. Ben will have just returned from his quest to bring home his third medal and second successive Gold medal from Athens.

“Volvo is keen to raise the profile of sailing within City companies. Sailing is a sport that underpins the Volvo brand; exciting, performance led and passionate – and Volvo products are well suited to sailing enthusiasts”, said Sarah Rees, Sports Marketing and Sponsorship Manager at Volvo Car UK.

Volvo Car UK is committed to supporting UK Sailing though a number of incentives including the Volvo Musto Optimist Sailing Programme, Volvo RYA Champion Club Scheme, Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme and Team Volvo for Life.

‘Being the world’s premier global race, and with our rich heritage in the sport the Volvo Ocean Race are keen to add value to the Championships whilst also informing the City community about our race, and the business opportunities it can provide. We are delighted to be a part of it,’ said James Kendall, Sponsorship & Marketing Manager at the Volvo Ocean Race.

On the new partnership, Simon Jacot de Boinod from City Championship spoke “The City Championships are delighted that Volvo Car UK are on board and we look forward to establishing a three year sailing programme with them for the benefit of all sailing enthusiasts in the city”

Peter Irving, CEO of Atlantis Investment Management adds testament to the event. " Brilliantly organised championships and weekend. We look forward to competing again this year to win the Volvo Ocean Race Trophy”

Volvo's support of the City Championships sporting calendar extends to the City Ski Championships in Courmayeur and the City Golf Championships, taking place in July this year at the Grove and Stoke Park Club. As the main partner to the golf competition, Volvo will be awarding the Volvo trophy to winning team and an invitation to participate in the Volvo Masters Amateur UK Final at Wentworth in September.