Ryde Rowing Club Annual Regatta - Sponsorship.
SUNDAY 5th JUNE, 2005.
Since 1972 the two main Isle of Wight Rowing Clubs, Ryde and
Shanklin have hosted Hants. & Dorset Amateur Rowing Association Championship
Regattas. These two events, staged over a weekend between mid May and mid June
each year, bring around fifteen visiting mainland Rowing Clubs from all over the
Southcoast - some 800 competitors and supporters - to the Island. As this is a
weekend event most of our visitors stay over for the full weekend bringing a
useful boost to early season trade for many Island businesses and the events
provide a free sporting spectacle for Islanders and Visitors alike and generates
useful publicity for the Island.
The success of the two events has on three occasions led to the Island being
awarded the prestigious Southcoast Rowing Championships Regatta which the Ryde
and Shanklin Clubs have organised jointly on behalf of the Hants. & Dorset
Amateur Rowing Association. The Island Regatta weekend is one of the most
popular in the South of England - regularly attracting over one hundred entries
to each event - and with the growth in the sport this popularity is expected to
continue to grow.
Coastal rowing remains one of the few truly amateur sports still in operation
with no payments or expenses paid to competitors, officials or coaches and no
cash prizes awarded.
As I am sure you will appreciate the cost of running the
Regatta increases each year putting an ever increasing financial strain on the
organisers. In spite of this the Ryde Club is proud of its record of running one
of the most successful and best organised Regattas in the Hants. & Dorset area.
The income generated by the regatta is limited as the entry
fees are fixed by the governing body and it is not possible to charge a fee to
spectators as you can with many sports. Since 1980 we have been able to offset
some of the costs thanks to the generosity of our sponsors.
Once again it is our intention to sell advertising space in
our Regatta programme to local businesses who are known for their support of
local Clubs and who hopefully gain from the competitors and spectators who will
be visiting the Island. In addition to the advertising space we will link
advertisers to an event or cost of the Regatta and give them additional
publicity over the P.A. system during the Regatta. We will also be prepared to
display any publicity material made available at the Clubhouse and to circulate
additional advertising material when the programmes are distributed.
The programme cover and any inside pages on which the adverts
are displayed are professionally printed.
It is our hope that sponsors will be willing to contribute around £50 for a
quarter page advert and £90 for a half page. While we appreciate that this is
probably not commercially viable we hope that the knowledge that you would be
supporting a local Club and event will persuade you to take a place in our
Programme.
Stephen C. Bull,
Regatta Secretary.
ryderegatta@scbull.freeserve.co.uk
10, Brookfield Gardens, Binstead,
Ryde, Isle of Wight.PO33 3NP
tel: 01983 566481
fax: 01983 566481
mobile: 07786 034941