The last couple of seasons have seen exceptional growth across the Ocean Paddling disciplines via the Australian Ocean Racing Series (AORS). Support for the sport was boosted in the 2016/17 season with the signing of a sponsorship agreement between Oceanpaddler and wealth management firm Shaw and Partners, along with existing sponsor Anytime Fitness.

To date, this season’s race numbers have eclipsed those of previous years, where the introduction of the Gold Coast event and a bigger race in Sydney have broadened the sport’s domestic footprint, by reaching a larger audience and encouraging increased participation.

With the final event on the 2016/17 season calendar fast approaching, Shaw and Partners is delighted to announce that we have agreed to rollover our existing sponsorship into the 2017/18 season.

This is huge news for Ocean Paddling in Australia across all four disciplines, cementing certainty around the future of the AORS series.

Dean Gardiner from Oceanpaddler has been slowly building the sport here in Australia over the last two decades. "Receiving news like this prior to the end of the season is a huge win for us. It’s fantastic exposure for the sport as we continue to build out the presence of competitive ocean paddling in Australia" he said.

"What makes a sponsorship like this even more special is that the guys from both Shaw and Partners and Anytime Fitness love the sport and take part in most of the events."

"We are really looking forward to this year’s Bridge to Beach. It promises to be the biggest yet in terms of numbers, with an awesome array of talent across the four paddling disciplines" said Gardiner.

 The Shaw and Partners Foundation have generously committed to match, dollar for dollar any donations (up to a cap of $5000) to the event charity Fragile X. Therefore, every dollar donated means two dollars goes to this worthwhile organisation.

 For more information on Fragile X, see https://fragilex.org.au/ 

The last race of the 2016/17 season is the Bridge to Manly on Sunday 26 February 2017. Shaw and Partners would like to extend our well wishes to all the competitors.