Combining Ford Cork Week's initiative in creating the elite High Performance Class under IRM with their established tradition of encouraging excellence in corinthian sailing, the winners of this prize will be drawn from the ranks of those non-professional ISAF Group 1 sailors crewing during the event in Crosshaven, which runs from July 13^th - 19^th 2002.

The prize consists of flights from London to Auckland, hotel accommodation whilst there, meeting key members of the British America's Cup crew in the team's AC base and being on board the GBR Challenge hospitality boat during the racing.

For many amateur sailors the opportunity to attend a day's racing at the America's Cup would be a dream come true. This also adds the chance to get 'up-close and personal' with the sailor's leading Britain's re-entry to the America’s Cup.

Eddie Murphy, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland, expressed his delight at this generous offer to Cork. "Ford Cork Week has always placed a strong emphasis on supporting corinthian sailors. For GBR Challenge to offer this prize allows us to take that to a new level. It's another progressive step for Europe's premier regatta, and we are very pleased to be associated with Britain's latest attempt in the America's Cup."

Ford Cork Week Organising Committee Chairman James McGrath echoed those sentiments and went on to pay tribute to John McWilliam, Race Committee Chairman at Ford Cork Week, who initiated the prize with Leslie Ryan, GBR’s Head of Sponsorship and Marketing and Peter Harrison, founder and Chairman of GBR Challenge. McWilliam’s company has supplied racing sails to Peter since Admiral’s Cup 1999, when Peter showed the foresight to specify the then brand new high-tech superlight cuben fibre and zylon sails and proved his choice by winning Class 1 in the Fastnet Race.

The owner's will make their choice not only on the basis of excellent crewing, but must also take into account that person’s overall contribution to the boat's enjoyment and success at Ford Cork Week 2002.

Commenting on the competition at Ford Cork Week 2002, Peter Harrison noted "in such a quality fleet the only certainty is that the victor will have thoroughly earned this opportunity of a lifetime to get involved with GBR Challenge."

As John McWilliam commented, "there will be about 7,000 sailors at Ford Cork Week, all of them aware of the America's Cup. But, until this offer from GBR Challenge came up, few would have had an invitation to go inside an America's Cup compound and to watch America's Cup racing live! This neatly connects both Cork to the top and America’s Cup to its roots and Peter and Leslie rightly saw the merits of that. Such lateral thinking suggests to me that GBR CHALLENGE are well worth supporting".