What an incredible two weeks! Having arrived back from France fresh from competing in La Solitaire du Figaro, I joined my Sport Environment team and headed up to London to run the first edition of the London Blue Mile for WWF and new official partner, Ecover. We then raced back down to Plymouth to set up our Blue Project exhibition in the America’s Cup village and have enjoyed playing our part in the sustainability programme and Forum.
This year’s new flagship Blue Mile event was held in London. With so much going on with Olympic test events, venues have been difficult to source, but we managed to secure a new venue in north London, just a few miles from the Olympic Park. Stoke Newington West Reservoir is used as Watersports centre and was the site of a new eco-regeneration programme. It is a small, but intimate venue with great facilities and suited our needs well for the first London event.
Check out the video to see the Blue Mile in action on the 4th September. http://vimeo.com/28992403
Back down the M4 to Plymouth and the 2nd America’s Cup World Series Event which took place from the 10th-18th September. We set up an exhibition for the Blue Climate and Oceans Project as part of the America’s Cup sustainability programme, with the goal to encourage as many people as possible to sign up to make a Blue Pledge for the environment. We also ran a competition for a family of four to win tickets for next year’s Blue Mile event which was very popular.
It was great to spend some time with Craig Thompson, CEO of America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) to discuss the value of sport as a tool for greater public engagement with our blue environment. There is a lot to be done here and the AC seems very focused on its ocean advocacy activity. The sustainability forum which took place early in the event was interesting and it was fantastic to be part of the panel alongside Dr. Sylvia Earle, who is one of our greatest ocean heroes and a real champion of the blue environment.
Check out the America’s Cup youtube channel to see the highlights of the ACWS Plymouth http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup
So, we now turn our attention to the Beyond Sports Awards which take place in Cape Town in early December. We have a wonderful opportunity to take our foundation, Blue Environment on the next part of its journey with our Blue Ambassadors leading the way. I’m delighted to be able to announce shortly our new Board that will shape its mission over the next few years.
Check out Blue Ambassador, Dave Cornthwaite record breaking 2404 mile Mississippi SUP journey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOtdOSxRavw
Conrad
