Race Night Thanks

I just want to say thank you to all those who sponsored races at the race night last week as well as all those who came to suport the cause. Race sponsors were:

• Gordon Ross
• Jewson Ltd (Stowmarket)
• Ross and Judith Taylor
• Max and Jan Bacon (Pakenham Post Office)
• Keith Harrison
• Aaron Windows
• Don Taylor
• Clarkes of Walsham Ltd
• Walter Alderton

and thanks to everyone who gave donations on the night

• John Collison
• Walsham Sports Club
• Bob Newman
• The Harrisons plus table for their auction race winnings!
• Julie

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! x

More Press

Yay i'm in the paper again! This time the Suffolk Free Press have done a follow-up and it's in the sports section with a photo of me grimacing despite the fact i haven't taken a stroke and am just sitting there. A few of you will notice that i'm pointing into the bank as well. Got the Scope t-shirt in for the first time now that i am OFFICIAL. Tha's right, i have a letter of authority and everything. So what's new? It's been more of the same really. Training and fundraising. The money search is becoming increasingly frustrating but we will get there! After the high of the race night it's really time to knuckle down and move on to the next event. I am going to hold a huge, gigantic raffle with prizes generously donated from shops and companies in the local area. It's still in the planning stages at the moment but expect to see tickets coming out in the next couple of weeks. So far prizes include meals, makeovers, hampers and gym memberships. All health related of course. Still looking for that elusive corporate sponsor or even someone who will listen to my pitch. The credit crunch is making this twice as hard as normal but they say that the hardest part of ocean rowing is getting to the startline. If i have to get a loan then i will. I can't turn this opportunity down, even if it might put my chances of going back to university and starting my new career on hold. That's how much this means to me. To be able to go out there in the middle of an ocean and face the mental and physical battle is truly exhilarating. And raising money for charity whilst i'm on my trip of a lifetime just makes it so much better. Let's just hope that someone else shares my enthusiasm!

Race Night Success!

Wow. On Saturday night we held the first big fundraising event and it was a huge success. Thanks to my parents organising it and family and friends coming along to support plus everyone who volunteered their time, we managed to raise a grand. That's right £1000. It just shows how much support there is out there for a challenge like this. Now i just need to get a company to realise this as well.

Some facts and figures for you to ponder over:

Value of Media Coverage from the Atlantic Race 2005
Printed - £770,269
TV - £50,000,000

This doesn't even include Internet coverage and there was over £50million pounds worth of coverage generated from just a few hundred thousand spent on race sponsorship for all the crews combined. A huge profit. That's what ocean rowing can do for you! It really captures people's imaginations as they can't for the life of them work out why someone would subject themselves to it!

Anyway, more work this week on getting people's attention and of course, more training. Had a great weekend on the erg with long distances covered at a good rate and pace so hopefully it will continue. Also look out for the Suffolk Free Press this week as they are going to be running a follow-up to the story they did at the start of January. Complete with photos of me sitting at front stops in a single (hopefully noone will notice that i'm not actually taking a stroke).

x

PS Please get in contact if you know someone who might be able to help!

Sponsorship info

Here is a copy of my sponsorship portfolio for you all to have a look at!


Indian Ocean Race 2009

Radio Suffolk and more

The interview with Radio Suffolk went live on Wed afternoon on the drivetime show. You can listen again using BBC iPlayer and it's on around 1 hr 20 mins in
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0022tdk/Drivetime_with_Stephen_Foster_04_02_2009/
A few of my fellow Sudbury Rowing Club members also had a moment of fame so thank you for letting everyone know how crazy i am!

As for sponsorship it's not going as well as i'd hoped. Companies are willing to sponsor in kind ie by giving service or equipment but the boat has been kitted with most of what we need. It's really the corporate big boys we need now to pay for what we already have. There are so many great opportunities available and VAST media coverage of this race so the return on any investment is going to be immense. The hard part is making people realise that. So until we find a company willing to join our challenge it's more emailing, phoning and sending out letters. Someone will bite!

PS Race night at Walsham is tomorrow night. Free entry and lots of fun!

CREW WEBSITE

Also the crew now has it's own website at www.piraterow.com. Please check it out as it has more info on the race, the boat and the rest of the crew!

More publicity

Radio Suffolk came down to the boat club on Saturday morning to do an interview with myself and with some of the other members of the club. It will be broadcast in the next few days so i will keep you posted but expect me talking 'enthusiastically' ie rambling and everyone else saying how idiotic and mad this is. Hopefully it will get the word out there some more and lead to some money! I contacted Look East as well but they didn't think they would be able to cover the story so no tv. I'll keep trying other avenues though cos i'm sure people are more interested in watching a story about a world record attempt than a report about people making furniture shaped like liqurice allsorts and animals who do crazy things. Maybe i'm biased though.

More news...
- college (St Edmund Hall) have said they will give me £350 so that is an unexpected bonus. It has come right from the top, from the Governing Body, and things like this don't happen very often so i'm very grateful. Obviously Oxford dons have an adventurous side.
- Scope have sent me some leaflets and sponsorship forms as well as t-shirts and pins to use at events and i now have my official letter of intent so now i am properly registered to raise money for them. I will try to scan it in and put it on the site somehow.
- had a conference call with the rest of the crew on Sat although i was on a train and it cut out halfway through so not entirely sure what happened. We are deciding on a boat name and logo this week so the boat can get branded before it is shipped out on the 11th Feb. The crew might also be changing again. I'm not entirely sure who is in and who is out at the moment but i'm determined to stay there (moeny permitting of course).
- lots of training this week. Had a bit of a mare on the erg for the first few days but then managed to get it back and had some good sessions with some of the girls (and boys) in Oxford. And with my erging partner Jocelyn at Sudbury of course. Saturdays wouldn't be the same without our 10ks!

Finally - RACE NIGHT is on Saturday night ie 7th Feb. There seem to be quite a lot of people going so i'm very excited. My parents have been amazing about this and have done nearly all the organisation work. I turn up after a few days in Oxford to find everything is pretty much done and all i need to do is make the posters and set up a stand to tell everyone about the row. I couldn't have put something like this on without their help and experience and it must be twice as hard for them as they know that the more money we make, the closer i am to leaving for 2 months and rowing across an inhospitable ocean! If anyone wants to come to the race night then please come. Entry is free and it is at Walsham Le Willows Sports Club. The more the merrier!

Okay have to go. Early morning coaching (and maybe coxing) my novice crew in their first outing on the water this term. The river has finally gone down.