Did you ever see your boss surfing? No? Employees of big drug industry companies like Pfizer had this possibility this weekend: their top executives gathered on a La Jolla (San Diego Area, USA) beach for a charity event.

The Moores UCSD Cancer Center invited under the banner “Surf for a Cure” 27 teams made up of biotech and pharma industry employees and executives. While cancer research is the main focus of the weekend, it is also a recognition of the growing popularity for the surf sport among those in the life-science industry.

Corporate sponsors and participants pay thousands of dollars to sponsor teams. Last year, the luau raised $225,000, and the event has raised more than $1.5 million for the cancer center since 1994.

Interesting trend: once considered a young person’s sport, surfing is now drawing an older, well-heeled, entrepreneurial crowd. For most ot the newcomers, surfing is a way to relax from the pressures of work. Mackey, senior vice president of Pfizer Global Research & Development in La Jolla, who oversees a research campus of over 1,000 employees, said surfing is also a good way to meet people and network, though in a low-key way.

“It’s not like golf. There is no membership, no green fees, no tee time, all you need is a surfboard,” Mackey said. “It’s very accessible, very democratic. We are all the same out there, all just surfers. True enough!

(via SignOn San Diego)

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 21st, 2006 at 5:21 am and is filed under Surf events and news, worldwide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.