When Alpine Canada CEO Ken Read committed to giving athletes on the national team the human, technical and financial resources they need to succeed, he wasn’t kidding. More than any other sports organization, Alpine Canada has been successful in signing sponsors for 2010 and beyond, while also delivering a national team that is breaking all records in terms of medals won and points earned on the World Circuit.
In the last week Alpine Canada has buoyed its financial position even further by signing several new sponsors.
On Oct. 17, Alpine Canada announced that nine of the ski team’s retailers and suppliers have extended their support to the team over the next five years, contributing almost $500,000.
One of those suppliers, Toronto-based Sporting Life, is also providing boot fitting to the Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team by sending one of their own staff to a training camp in Zermatt, Switzerland.
On Monday, Alpine Canada announced a three-year partnership with Finning and Caterpillar of Canada that is valued at $600,000. In addition, World Junior super G champion Gareth Sine will wear a Finning logo on his hats and helmet for the upcoming season.
While the team is well-sponsored at this point, the helmet is one of the few pieces of real estate on the team uniform where athletes can find their own sponsors.
“Finning and Caterpillar are providing much needed additional financial resources to support our teams, our programs, and our goal of becoming the best in the world at every level,” said Read. “We need financial, technical and human resources to ensure we keep pace with the ski racing world.”
One of the human resources available to the team this year is Max Gartner. The Chief Athletics Officer for the program, Gartner has extended his contract with Alpine Canada through the 2010 Games.
Gartner has worked with dozens of skiers in his career, including gold medalist and spouse Kerrin Lee-Gartner. He came out of retirement in 2003 when Read was appointed to rebuild Alpine Canada after a disappointing showing in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Other new agreements have been signed with Booster Strap, Ski Cellar, and Stride Rite Canada (Saucony Shoes).
