Allen Endurance Series Blogger Award - £1500 of Allen kit up for grabs!

Allen Endurance Series prize-giving © Mark Jardine

The Allen Endurance Series was a new concept for 2018, combining three classic events - the Solent Forts Race, the East Coast Piers Race and the Round Sheppey Race - to crown the champion of the UK long-distance dinghy racing scene.

Allen's innovation isn't just limited to application-led design in hardware, or sponsoring the event and leaving at that, and for 2019 they are championing the 'Allen Endurance Series Blogger Award' to encourage creative writing about people's experiences on the water, building awareness about the series with the aim of increasing participation in this form of sailing. The prize is superb: £1500 of Allen kit for your boat!

Allen want to see engaging writing, focusing on the human-interest parts, the build-up, the challenges, paddock talk and shoreside fun. Share your stories on social media, and of course the main sailing media outlets, to encourage more people to enjoy our great sport and these unique events.

"Allen has always helped participation in the sport, not just by its sponsorship of elite sailors, but also at grass roots level; the Allen Endurance Series is very much styled in this manner. The Series is growing, with four events in 2019 and we want to take participation and communication out into the wider world by getting competitors to join in with blogging, promoting and talking about the gossip and dinghy park banter that creates the atmosphere. This makes each of these weekends become something special," said Liz Adams, Managing Director of Allen Brothers.

"A personal favourite story of mine from last year was hearing about one of our Team Allen sailors, Ben Hutton-Penman, who gave up his race lead when a fellow competitor was in trouble. I was really impressed by that and I think it encompasses all the qualities we get involved in the sport for. Sailing is an adventure and to make the sport appeal to the wider public we need to tell them these human stories. With this award we will create the platform to share many more extreme sailing stories." added Jeremy Nicholson, Head of Marketing at Allen Brothers.

To enter please send an engaging article about your 2018 season, in approximately 500 words, to Jeremy Nicholson at Allen, . Feel free to supplement it with any supporting photos you think illustrate the story. The selected blogger, once they have contributed posts over the 2019 season, will receive an Allen voucher worth £1,500.