The Pure Tasmania/Deloitte-TIS squad. (Image credit: Rob Burnett)
The Tasmanian Institute of Sport (TIS) cyclists will compete in national road and track events under a Pure Tasmania and Deloitte-TIS cycling team name thanks to a sponsorship partnership announced yesterday.
Tourism marketing group Pure Tasmania and Deloitte, the world's largest accounting and financial services firm, have entered into the three-year naming rights partnership with the TIS to offer elite and developing Tasmanian athletes the opportunity to compete nationally and internationally within a structured team framework.
Team manager Nigel Baker said the increasing popularity of cycling, both for recreational fitness and at competition level, was the catalyst for Pure Tasmania and Deloitte to join with the TIS to create the Pure Tasmania and Deloitte-TIS cycling team.
"The Tour de France, and closer to home the Tour Down Under in South Australia, clearly demonstrate just how popular cycling has become," he said. "And its profile is continuing to increase, particularly in Tasmania and Australia because of the quality of cyclists we are producing here."
TIS head cycling coach Matthew Gilmore said Tasmanian professional cyclists had performed well at international level in recent years.
"The efforts of Matthew Goss, who is also the Pure Tasmania and Deloitte-TIS cycling team ambassador, Richie Porte, Will Clarke, Bernard Sulzberger, Wesley Sulzberger and Belinda Goss demonstrate that Tasmania is more than capable of producing world-class competitive cyclists," he said.
"The sponsorship partnership will greatly assist the TIS to continue to develop athletes for national and international competition."
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The Pure Tasmania and Deloitte-TIS cycling team will operate as a not-for-profit entity under the management of Nigel Baker (The Baker Group), Gilmore, solicitor Will Edwards and chartered accountant Christopher Bishop.
The team will comprise Alex Clements, Luke Ockerby, Peter Loft, Jack Matthews, Danny Pullbrook, Callum Fagg, Henry West, Jake McMahon, Andrew Margison, Joel Stearnes, Belinda Goss, Amy Cure, Sarah Cure, Georgie Baker, Grace Sulzberger, Emma Lawson and Rowena Fry.
Events the Pure Tasmania and Deloitte-TIS cycling team will compete at include the Launceston International Criterium, the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic at Geelong, the SmokeFree Perth Criteriums, the Australian track national championships in Sydney and the tours of Canberra, Toowoomba, Gippsland, Geelong, Murray and Tasmania.
