The main stage of the official Race Village along Barcelona’s Moll de la Fusta, bordering the Port Vell was the perfect setting for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup prize-giving ceremony on Saturday October 19 where the famous trophy was lifted from its Louis Vuitton trunk and presented to the winners Emirates Team New Zealand amidst wild celebrations from fans and supporters.
Smoke and glitter littered the evening skies as the whole team took to the stage to be officially presented with the America’s Cup – sport’s longest continually contested trophy that dates back to its original purchase by the Marquess of Anglesey from Messrs R&S Garrard in 1848 before being contested, famously for the first time in 1851 on a course around the Isle of Wight, in Great Britain.
Fittingly, the defeated INEOS Britannia team took to the stage first to receive the applause after Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei had performed a traditional haka in front of the huge crowd of fans and well-wishers that had assembled.
