Marine Results have agreed a sponsorship package with British Sailing Team duo Megan Brickwood and her crew Ellie Aldridge from Poole, to support their bid to represent the UK at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in the 49er FX class.
The pair are currently based in Cadiz, Spain with the British Sailing Team for winter training where squad camps are held each month to allow the sailors to gain time on the water with warmer temperatures and longer days than the UK would offer.
In March Ellie and Megan will be training in Palma and competing in the Princess Sofia Regatta there at the end of March, plus a number of other events, the focus of which is Kiel Week in June. “The huge turnout at Kiel will enable us to gauge how we are doing in the international fleet as a whole,” says Megan. The duo will also take part on the 49er FX European Championships and World Championships.
The girls agree “We are both really excited to be sponsored by Marine Results. The support will go a long way to help keep our campaign running at the high level needed. Marine Results have already been very useful in terms of advice with rope, a really important aspect of our campaign. The sponsorship will help us allow us to purchase sails and spares for the busy year of events we have ahead.”
Jon Morris of Marine Results comments “Megan lives locally to our head office in Hamble, UK, and we have been admiring their progress and contributing to their training, so we are now really proud to be an official supporter. We wish them the very best in achieving their goals.”
Megan, who was previous sailing 470s, explains “We’ve only sailed the boat for nine months, therefore our goals this year are centred around getting as much time in the boat as possible, although it would be nice to get some good results too.”
“Ultimately our overall goal is to win Gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games,” she adds. “2017 will be about getting onto the World Circuit to increase our international world ranking in preparation for 2018, where we will aim to perform at the invitation-only World Cup Events for the world’s top 30 sailors.”
Both are part of the British Sailing Team Podium Potential Squad. Megan, who is from Hamble, has been in the program now for four years, recently moving to the FX to campaign with Ellie, from Poole, who joined the program in the summer of 2016.
Together they scored first British girls in the 2016 49er FX Junior World Championships. Previous to sailing the 49er FX, Megan sailed the 470 with Jessica Lavery, winning both a Silver and Bronze medal in the Junior Worlds in 2014 and 2015. Megan also won the 420 World Championships in 2011 and won the Yachting Journalists Association Pantaenius Young Sailor of the Year Award. Ellie, who comes from a larger keelboat background, achieved 1st IRC class 2 National Championships 2012/2013 and 1st Youth Keelboat National championships 2013, and was 2nd in the 18ft Skiff Championships in New Zealand in 2016.
Visit Meg and Ellie’s Facebook page TeamBrickwoodAldridge.