Volvo Ocean Race Winner Trophy Design Competition Launched

Agencies and designers now have the chance to battle each other in creating the new winner’s trophy prior to the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 debut next year in Alicante (Spain). The winner will receive its trophy at the end of the nine legs and 10 in-port races in July 2012.

“During its 37-year history, 148 teams have crossed the starting line of what is now and has been for three events, the Volvo Ocean Race, the most famous of round the world races.  Many sailors return five, six, seven times, to take on a battle not only with Mother Nature, but with the world's best crews,” a company statement reads.

“Why? They do it all for the glory of winning, for there is no pot of gold to be had at the end of this, the most epic of adventures and challenging of sporting events, just a stunning trophy.”

After being handed over to the overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 in front of at least 1.6 billion followers of the event, the trophy will start a special around the world tour. It will finally rest in the museum at Race Headquarters in Spain, where it will be on permanent display.

The race will visit eight stopover ports on five continents and race through four oceans, in under nine months. The Volvo Open 70's will cover over 39,270 nautical miles racing around the globe.

The Volvo Ocean Race route for 2011-2012 has already been set and includes: start port Alicante/Spain, Cape Town/South Africa, Abu Dhabi/UAE, Sanya/China, Auckland/New Zealand, Itajai/Brazil, Miami/USA, Lisbon/Portugal, Lorient/France and finish port Galway/Ireland.