Alan Roura will be Bol d’Or Mirabaud 2017 ambassador

The youngest sailor to have completed the Vendée Globe solo around-the-world race is Swiss: Alan Roura, 24 years old, will be ambassador of the next Bol d’Or Mirabaud, June 16 – 18, 2017 at the Société Nautique de Genève. After having participated numerous times in this regatta, the world’s most important inland, Alan will be the guest of honor in the 2017 edition.

This will be an opportunity for the public and competitors to meet this Geneva sailor, who achieved an incredible feat by completing his solo around-the-world in 105 days, finishing twelfth. Roura will follow other prestigious sailors who also flew Helvetic colors at sea: Dominique Wavre in 2013 and Bernard Stamm in 2015.

“I am delighted and honored to have been named ambassador of the next Bol d’Or Mirabaud,” he declared. “It’s a race I particularly love; a big popular lake festival, uniting high-tech boats with first rated sailors. I look forward to the fresh water of Lake Léman after having been drenched by saltwater so many times these past months.”

The Organizing Committee is very proud to welcome such a prestigious guest for this 79th edition. “Foremost, we want to congratulate him for this incredible performance; he’s a daring youngster who has always believed,” adds Rodolphe Gautier, president of the Organizing Committee. “Alan perfectly represents the values we want our event to promote, notably performance, adventure and sharing. We’re fortunate to be able to count on him this year and we look forward to hearing him tell his Vendée Globe story and interact with participants.”

Nicolas Mirabaud, title sponsor Mirabaud’s Executive Committee member, is also delighted by this development, “After having supported Dominique Wavre during the last Vendée Globe, we obviously followed Alan Roura very closely this year. That race is very important to us, and we’ve been so impressed by this young Geneva racer’s career and talent, exhibiting courage and tenacity.  We look forward to meeting him at the Société Nautique de Genève this summer.”