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| 26 Jul 2006 | |
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British Triathlon is delighted to announce that Corus, one of the world’s leading steel producers, is to become its premier commercial sponsor. This sports sponsorship is a first for both Corus and British Triathlon and demonstrates Corus’ commitment to developing Great Britain’s triathlon talent and to investing in the sport’s longer-term legacy through support of grassroot initiatives. Triathlon, which first became an Olympic sport in 2000, is already the UK’s fastest growing sport. British Triathlon will today announce details of Corus’ sponsorship at a launch to be held in Hyde Park, the venue for triathlon at the 2012 Olympic Games, to be attended by Richard Caborn, Minister of Sport, Jim Leng, Chairman of Corus, Jasmine Flatters, Chair of British Triathlon and several triathletes from the Great Britain Triathlon Team including Will Clarke, Helen Tucker, Stuart Hayes, Vanessa Raw, Devon King and Rosie Clarke. Corus’ commitment includes an initial sponsorship for two years, which will invest in medal winning success by Great Britain triathlon teams at major events and will help British Triathlon address the competition needs of emerging elite triathletes. At grassroots level, Corus will support a number of community-based initiatives including nationwide programmes to develop triathlon for school age children through ‘Corus Kids of Steel’ and for athletes with a disability at a community level. Corus’ sponsorship will go towards helping British Triathlon in all aspects of the sport, with the aim of developing strong future athletes at all levels through to the Elite. Two young triathletes with real prospects for 2012, Will Clarke (21) and Helen Tucker (22) are among the first to benefit from the Corus sponsorship and will receive Corus Awards. Clarke and Tucker, graduates of British Triathlon’s highly successful world class potential programme, have made successful transitions into the senior ranks and are already achieving success in international competitions. Widely tipped as the best Under 23 triathlete in the World, Will Clarke recently won the European U23 Championships. Helen Tucker made a successful transition to senior level last year winning medals in World Cups and has backed this up with fantastic performances in 2006 with victory in the National Championships and fourth place in the European U23 Championships. As part of the agreement British Triathlon will also create a three race series of elite events in the UK in 2007 to be sponsored by Corus and broadcast on terrestrial television. The events will provide British triathletes with an opportunity to compete against some of the world's best competitors on home soil, and give the sport of triathlon greater exposure in the UK. Dates and locations of the events will be announced in due course. Richard Caborn, Minister of Sport said: "Today's announcement is excellent news for British triathletes. This investment will not only help our Olympic hopefuls going for gold in 2012 but will also be used to get more people involved in this fast growing and exciting sport. It's good to see Corus, one of the world's leading suppliers of steel, entering the sports sponsorship market and supporting British Triathlon. I hope it's a long and fruitful partnership." Jim Leng, Chairman of Corus, commented, “We are very excited to be announcing our support for British Triathlon, We believe that there is a good fit between the values of British Triathlon and Corus in terms of our determination to succeed with motivated and passionate people, dedicated to improving performance and delivering a world-class performance. As a business, Corus has a clear track record in the successful delivery of complex projects including infrastructure, construction and sports stadia and it is our ambition to build on this success going forward. At the same time, though our sponsorship of British Triathlon our investment in triathlon will also be supporting and helping to deliver successful British Triathletes.” Jasmine Flatters, Chair for British Triathlon said, "Today we reach a significant milestone for triathlon in Great Britain as we welcome Corus as the premier sponsor of British Triathlon. Our partnership with Corus will enable us to raise the profile of our sport further and achieve our mission to establish Great Britain as the world’s leading triathlon nation. The next six years will be an exciting time for the sport of triathlon in Great Britain and the support being given by Corus will help our talent prepare to become the best in the world during this period. Their support of grassroots triathlon will help us leverage additional public funding which will provide a long term legacy for the sport that will take us beyond 2012." Today’s launch at Hyde Park is an opportunity for members of the GB Triathlon team to train at the triathlon venue for the 2012 Olympic Games. Following the launch they will head to Salford for this Sunday’s International Triathlon Union BG World Cup race, which takes place in Salford. Sunday’s race will see Great Britain’s leading triathletes compete against some of the World’s leading triathletes and also against each other as they seek qualification for Corus British Elite Triathlon Team for the World Triathlon Championships, which will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the start of September. Notes for editors Details of the press launch being held today at Hyde Park are on Corus’ website at www.corusgroup.com and a replay will be made available tomorrow. For further information on British Triathlon, please see www.britishtriathlon.org or call: Corus, Annanya Sarin - Tel: +44 (0)207 7174532 / +44 (0)7766 750 001 British Triathlon, Peter Holmes - Tel: +44 (0)1509 226161 / +44 (0)7795 415 452 Pitch PR - Tel: 44 (0)207 494 1616 Andrew Ager or Henry Chappell +44 (0)7775 585 437 British Triathlon is the National Governing Body for triathlon, the UK’s fastest growing sport. At international level Great Britain boasts a strong squad of world ranked elite triathletes who regularly achieve international success and has some outstanding young talent emerging from its youth programmes. Since becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, British Triathlon has seen annual increases in membership numbers of 10%. There are over 500 triathlon events conducted in Great Britain each year including the London Triathlon, arguably the largest triathlon event in the World and the ITU World Cup race in Salford, one of the world’s leading international races. About Corus Corus Group Plc (LSE/AEX: CS; NYSE: CGA) is one of the world’s leading steel producers with annual turnover of over £10 billion and major operating facilities in the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway and Belgium. Corus’ divisions comprising Strip Products, Long Products, Distribution & Building Systems and Aluminium provide innovative solutions to the construction, automotive, rail, general engineering and packaging markets worldwide. Corus has 47,300 employees in over 40 countries and sales offices and service centres worldwide.
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