BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The Kona Bike Co. and Nissan have created a new local and regional level grassroots racing sponsorship partnership that will provide professional level team support and supplies to Europe’s most promising mountain bike racers, clubs and teams in order to accelerate their professional racing pursuits.
The Kona/Nissan Grassroots program will provide access to the latest Kona racing bikes, race day and casual team kit plus race support at selected events as team members compete in cross-country, road, 4-cross, freeride or dirt jump events.
"As a forward-thinking brand with a long history in racing, Kona is keen to identify future champions by supporting the up-and-coming riders from the grass roots of our sport," said Kona’s marketing manager, Russell Carty.
"We’ve all been at the start lines of our local races at 7:00 a.m. battling our friends and we recognize the hard work and dedication that it takes to make it into the elite ranks of racing. We hope that with a little help we can help bring these local champions into the limelight."
Grassroots team members will be identified, recruited and managed by each area’s local Kona dealer. Kona and Nissan will provide each Grassroots rider with a bunch of promo items. Each promotion piece will have room for the participating shop to put their logo as well as any additional sponsors the Grassroots members have.
Darren Cox, European Brand Promotion Manager for Nissan said: "Nissan has historically supported adventurous activity but now we are stepping up a gear and will really show the passion that we as a company hold for sports adventure and the environments in which they are held. Through this Grassroots program we are supporting we want to inspire adventure spirited people to get into bike racing throughout Europe."
Grassroots Teams and riders will post regular updates on their online profiles at kona-nissangrassroots.com with race reports, pictures and videos of their performances and achievements from each event they compete in, with further distribution through Nissan’s various media properties, such as nissan- sportsadventure.com.
The Kona/Nissan Grassroots programme will be available in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and South Africa.
