MR360° Venue


Chicago


will blow you away


photos by ISAO TOYAMA / CHICAGO MATCH RACE CENTER Te newest stop on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour


is at the Chicago Match Cup, the only US event on the Tour. Racing will be held from July 10-15 in eight equally-matched TOM 28 MAX class boats, with a US$100,000 total prize money purse at stake. “We are extremely excited to host the Alpari World Match


Racing Tour in Chicago,” said Chicago Match Race Center founder Don Wilson. “Tis is a great opportunity to show the world how great this


city can be as a site for world class sailing, and to showcase the incredible talent that will be here to compete in July.” Te CMRC was founded in 2009 to promote and grow the


sport of match race sailing by Wilson and Alpari World Match Racing Tour champion Bill Hardesty. As part of its mission to provide the highest-level match


racing training facility for professional and amateur sailors in the US, CMRC has a fleet of both TOM’s and Elliott 6M class boats, the type that will be used in the 2012 Olympic Games. Known as the “Windy City,” Chicago is the third most


populous city in the USA, with 2.7 million residents, and the surrounding “Chicagoland” area is home to 9.8 million people. Navy Pier, the venue for CMRC’s premier events, is the #1 tourist and leisure destination in the US Midwest, attracting more than 8.6 million visitors a year, and provides a perfect venue for spectator-friendly “Stadium sailing.”


Te Chicago Match Cup has evolved to its current Grade


WC status from being a Grade 2 event in 2009 and 2010, won by Phil Robertson and Mike Buckley respectively, to a Grade 1 in 2011 won by Keith Swinton. Both Phil and Keith have gone on to become Tour Card holders after winning in Chicago. Also on the schedule for 2012 at the CMRC are three


Grade 2 events and four Grade 3 events, including the 100th anniversary of the Richardson Trophy, the oldest match racing trophy in North America that is not a challenge cup.


MATCH RACING 360° | page 35 | March 2012


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