Alinghi “Homecoming Tour” 2007

Alinghi “Homecoming Tour” 2007

The victorious Swiss Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup will travel to Switzerland for a homecoming tour returning sport’s oldest trophy to the people of Switzerland.

Alinghi fought hard to defend the trophy and to keep it Europe during the America’s Cup Match in Valencia against the Challenger Emirates Team New Zealand, successfully winning it again by 5-2 with a nail-biting 1 second win.

This is Alinghi’s second consecutive win and an historic moment for Switzerland. To celebrate, Alinghi is bringing the trophy to Switzerland for a “Homecoming Tour” and the entire team (130 team members and their families) plans to arrive in Geneva on Sunday 8 July onboard a Swiss Airlines plane with the Auld Mug. Alinghi team members will head to the Parc des Eaux Vives to celebrate with the public at a festival from 17:00, that will include music, live TV interviews on big screens and a full team presentation from 19:30. At 21:30 a concert with an international guest star will kick off and there will be fireworks at 22:30.

And this is just the beginning! From Geneva, members of the team will continue the Alinghi “Homecoming Tour” to Zurich (10 July), Bern (12 July) and Lugano (14 July).

Each one of these homecoming stopovers will include Alinghi photographic projections on famous landmark buildings the night before. These will tell the story of Alinghi and the path to winning the America’s Cup for the second time. Each day the Cup will be on display from 10:00-20:00, team members will be present for autograph signing opportunities hourly at 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 and film footage of the racing will remind public of this historic achievement.

Team syndicate head, Ernesto Bertarelli comments on the upcoming tour: “Winning the America’s Cup again is a great achievement, I am very proud of the team and all the work they have done to make this happen. We are doing the “Homecoming Tour” because we want to share this moment of victory with Switzerland as a thank you for the immense support the people have shown us during the campaign.”

A reminder…

The Swiss team set several precedents when it won the America’s Cup in Auckland in 2003. It was the first team to win on a first attempt, the first team since the inaugural race in 1851 to return the Cup to Europe and the first challenge from a land-locked country. After winning the trophy, Alinghi set about re-designing the event. This revolutionised it, firstly by enticing no less than 11 challengers – including three first-timers: China, South Africa and Germany – but also by taking the competition to France, Sweden and Italy for the Louis Vuitton Acts (pre-regattas). Winning the America’s Cup again has been the team goal since setting up in Valencia, Spain and the Swiss team has now set another precedent. It is the first team to successfully defend the America’s Cup in Europe since the creation of the competition.

THE PROTOCOL AND CHALLENGER OF RECORD FOR THE 33RD AMERICA’S CUP WAS ANNOUNCED BY AMERICA’S CUP MANAGEMENT TODAY, FOR FUTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY OF THE PROTOCOL, PLEASE GO TO http://WWW.AMERICASCUP.COM

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