Parmigiani Spirit Award presented to London rower James Cook

A final year mechanical engineering student and rower at the University College of London, Cook has excelled at both academics and sports. In addition to dedicating many hours to coaching work with young rowers at the University of London Boat Club (ULBC) while training himself for the international level, Cook has also organised and participated in a number of charity events.

In 2011, James rowed 1’000 km down the Zambesi River as part of the “Row Zambesi Expedition” which generated over $40,000 in contributions for “Village Water”, a charity that helps small communities in Africa to develop the infrastructure to provide clean, fresh water supplies for their homes. During the expedition, Cook also taught Zambian students from the University of Lusaka how to row and he is now working towards creating a rowing camp on Lake Kariba in summer 2014.

Today, James Cook was presented with a Parmigiani Fleurier “Tonda 1950” watch by Parmigiani CEO Jean-Marc Jacot in the Parmigiani Fleurier Room at the famous Mosimann’s Dining Club in central London. Cook’s rowing club, ULBC, will receive a custom-built top-of-the-range Filippi racing eight built in Italy.

Also present at the Award presentation were FISA President Denis Oswald and Olympic single sculls champion Mahé Drysdale, who formed the Award judging panel along with Jacot. Members of Cook’s family and representatives of ULBC and University College London joined the celebrations.

“James Cook has proved to be an exceptional candidate, possessing such qualities as leadership, teamwork and a charitable and dedicated nature. He is a worthy winner and it gives Parmigiani great pleasure to present him with the very first Parmigiani Spirit Award,” said Jacot.

“Parmigiani and FISA are dedicated to providing young athletes and scholars with the opportunity to cultivate these values and to search for excellence on the water and in the classroom. We are honoured to recognise this extraordinary young man and we congratulate him on all he has accomplished,” said Oswald.

“What is so cool about the Award is that, more than anything, it’s an award for my university rowing club and on a personal level, it has given invaluable publicity to my charity Row Zambezi,” said Cook.

The day concluded with a private celebration dinner for Cook, his family, his coach, Mahé Drysdale, Parmigiani and FISA representatives.

The Parmigiani Spirit Award was open to university rowers worldwide who demonstrated the core values of rowing in his/her social, academic and sporting life and, through those values, also enabled or inspired exceptional success in other people’s lives – for example in education, business, sports or charity. Rowing’s core values are: Teamwork, Fairness, Natural, Inclusive and Enduring.

For James Cook’s full biography, click here.

To view images from the Award presentation, click here.

For a video from the event, click here.