HighGear announces multi-year sponsorship for Julia Mancuso

HighGear announces multi-year sponsorship for Julia Mancuso{mosimage}SKYLAND, NC – HighGear today announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Julia Mancuso, a 2002 Olympian and one of the top racers on the U.S women’s alpine team. As part of the deal, HighGear becomes Mancuso’s exclusive headgear sponsor with rights to logo placement on her helmets, hats, and headbands for the remainder of the 2005 season carrying through the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy. HighGear’s logo will be featured on Mancuso’s helmet/headgear at all 05-06 World Cup events, the 2005 World Championships along with U.S. Championships and other sanctioned ski competitions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

‘Julia embodies a competitive and highly active lifestyle that reflects the HighGear philosophy perfectly. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Julia into the HighGear family’ said Mike Hosey, President of HighGear. ‘This agreement confirms our commitment to the winter sports market and to our brand’s dedication towards creating innovative and technically superior products.’

‘Julia has the ability to be the Bode Miller of women’s skiing. She’s only 20 years old and is already among the top 10 skiers in the world’ said Mancuso’s agent, Lowell Taub, Vice President of Talent Marketing at SFX Sports Group. ‘We continue to see her improve with every race, including her career best World Cup result in her first race as a HighGear sponsored athlete. She’s on track to becoming the best overall women’s skier in the world.’

Mancuso is setting records and collecting medals at an impressive rate. She started World Cup racing before she was 16, competed in the Olympics at 17 and won NorAm Cup, Junior World and U.S. Championship titles by 19. Mancuso made history at the 2004 National Championships when she collected a gold medal to go along with four silver medals the first time a U.S. skier ever won a National Championships medal in all five events. She also won two medals at the ’04 Junior World Championships, bringing her career total to eight and setting the career U.S. medals record in Junior Worlds.

‘I’m excited to be representing HighGear on and off the race course for the next few years’ said Mancuso. ‘Their products are well designed, highly accurate, and very easy to use-exactly what I need for training and conditioning, as well as for pure fun on my own time.’

HighGear is continuing to build brand awareness throughout the United States, Canada and the world. A recent agreement with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) made HighGear an official supplier of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team with exclusive worldwide sponsorship in the sports instrument category. Teaming up with Mancuso will be the start of HighGear’s quest of working with top outdoor athletes whose intense training and conditioning program requires highly accurate and user-friendly sports instruments. Mancuso will be featured in HighGear’s global advertising campaign and will be available for special appearances.