The Ocean Race recognised at BT Sport Industry Awards

The Ocean Race won two BT Sport Industry Awards 2019, earning recognition amongst some of the world’s biggest sporting brands and organisations at the annual event in London on April 25th, 2019.

The BT Sport Industry Awards are the largest commercial sports awards in the world, with the 2017-18 contest earning the Cutting Edge Sport Award and the Social and Sustainable Development Award.

The BT Sport Industry Awards 2019, with 19 categories of outstanding competition, brought together the biggest and best sport brands, campaigns, events, and organisations on the planet, including the likes of adidas, Nike, Formula One, Visa, BT Sport and the European Tour.

The Ocean Race had been shortlisted in three categories, only missing out on the Fan or Community Engagement Award.

The sustainability campaign from the round the world race, with a focus on reducing the amount of plastic entering our oceans, was crowned “best in class” and a “shining example” by judges.

The Social and Sustainable Development Award was presented by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Dee Caffari, where the campaign to turn the tide on plastic, which reached millions of people during the offshore event, was recognised for the breadth of its impact.

The award judges agreed that this was a shining example of best in class work, noting that The Ocean Race used its scale, partnership family and data collection to drive the public affairs agenda, leaving a demonstrable and compelling legacy.

“We used our influence and platform to inspire millions of people through a nine-month global sporting event and we’re honoured to have been recognised for the impact of this groundbreaking campaign,” said Richard Brisius, co-president of The Ocean Race.

“By engaging politicians and business leaders to implement change to policies and practices to address the ocean plastic crisis, we sought clear, long-term commitments for cleaner, healthier seas and are proud to have left a lasting legacy.

“Sustainability is integrated within The Ocean Race’s DNA and we have pledged to use the momentum we have built as a catalyst to continue our mission to restore ocean health.”

The Ocean Race recently announced 11th Hour Racing, the founding partner of the sustainability program, would return for the next edition of the race as a Premier Race Partner.

Bluewater also confirmed it will return as official drinking water provider, in a bid to reduce global reliance on single-use plastics, building upon the work already started.

The race amplified the UN Environment ‘Clean Seas’ campaign, encouraging individuals, businesses and governments to make commitments to fight plastic pollution and restore ocean health.

British sailor Dee Caffari acted as an ambassador for the campaign and skippered the Turn the Tide on Plastic race boat, which not only carried the vital message around the world, but also acted as a racing science lab collecting never-before-seen microplastics data from the most remote oceans on the planet.

The Judges for the Cutting Edge Sport award said they “admired the advanced use of technology to enhance the media coverage of sailing, making it a more immersive and accessible sport.”

The Ocean Race submitted live social-first coverage and ‘RAW’ storytelling from the Race – highlighting firsts such as live drone footage of racing in the Southern Ocean as key successes.

“In the last edition of the Race we placed a big emphasis on delivering compelling, raw content to our fans in real-time whenever technically possible,” said Johan Salén, Managing Director of The Ocean Race.

“This proved to be the best way to engage with our fans even when our race boats are many miles offshore in the clutches of the Southern Ocean – closer to the astronauts than anyone else on land. As a result the storytelling from the race track was very authentic and powerful.”

“We are delighted to see The Ocean Race win the Social and Sustainable Development Award for the incredible work done with the sustainability program we are proud to be the founding partner of,” said Rob MacMillan, Co-founder of 11th Hour Racing. “Furthermore, we are excited to continue and deepen this work for the next edition of the Race.”

The next edition of The Ocean Race is scheduled to start in the autumn of 2021 from Alicante, Spain.

Racing the one design Volvo Ocean 65, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race began in Alicante, Spain on October 22nd 2017, with the final finish in The Hague, Netherlands on June 30th 2018. In total, the 11-leg race visited 12 cities in six continents: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg, and The Hague.

Race details – Scoreboard – Facebook – YouTube

2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race Overall Results (after 11 of 11 legs)
1. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 73 points
2. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 70
3. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 69
4. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 59
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 39
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 32
7. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 32

2017-18 In-Port Race Series Overall Results (after 11 of 11 races)
1. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 64 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 56
3. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 50
4. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 50
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 35
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 25
7. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 25

2017-18 Edition: Entered Teams – Skippers
• Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED)
• Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA)
• MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP)
• Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
• Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS)
• Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR)
• Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED)

Source: The Ocean Race