United By Sport LLC announces Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 Professional Cycling Team
A combination of youth and experiences paves the road to 2012 Olympics.
San Francisco, CA - After a very successful four-year development program as ProMan Hit Squad resulting in numerous National Championships and international podiums, General Manager Nicola Cranmer is proud to announce Peanut Butter & Co. as the team’s new Title Partner. United By Sport LLC has assembled what promises to be a very strong roster and talented management for the 2010 season with a purposeful balance and approach to the program that will focus development for the 2012 Olympic games in London.
Swiss based ProMan (Project Management) will continue as a supporting partner of the team, along with many returning brands and some exciting new partners that will be announced shortly.
“I am extremely excited to be working with such a dynamic brand like Peanut Butter & Co. Peanut butter is a perfect partner for cycling and the perfect fuel for race day,” said Nicola Cranmer Team Founder and Manager. “The roster we have assembled are all highly motivated to race their bikes.”
While the professional team is a primary focus, the program will continue to develop young American riders providing these emerging talents the opportunity to race with the elite squad, which has proven to be a successful formula. Riders will compete in North America and international races with a focus on World Cup events, World Championships and the 2012 Olympics under the direction of 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, Kristin Armstrong.
“I am really excited about being part of the Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12 team. I look forward to helping each one of our riders accomplish their personal goals and dream in the sport of cycling as we head towards the Olympic Games in London 2012,” said Armstrong.
Through the partnership, Peanut Butter & Co will be providing product samples to race attendees and prime prizes at select races, along with keeping the team fueled with peanut products throughout the season. Peanut Butter & Co’s products are all-natural and made exclusively from peanuts grown in the USA.
"We are very excited to be working Nicola Cranmer and Kristin Armstrong on the Peanut Butter & Co.TWENTY12 team. Our cyclists are some of the strongest competitors on the women’s racing circuit, and we fully expect future Olympians to come from our team," said Lee Zalben, Founder and President of Peanut Butter & Co.
With four riders, Shelley Evans (Olds), Cari Higgins, Coryn Rivera and Ruth Winder returning, the roster is bolstered by top climber Mara Abbott, power houses Katharine Carroll and Lauren Tamayo, all rounder Kristin McGrath and rising stars Alisha Welsh and Sinead Miller this looks to be powerful combination.
Riders
Mara Abbott - USA
Katharine Carroll – USA
Shelley Evans (Olds) - USA
Cari Higgins - USA
Kristin McGrath - USA
Sinead Miller (19 years) - USA
Coryn Rivera (17 years) - USA
Lauren Tamayo - USA
Alisha Welsh - USA
Ruth Winder (16 years) – GBR
Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 Team from Jim Fryer/BrakeThrough Media on Vimeo.
What's In A Name?
Shakespearean philosophy aside, the intentions of this latest iteration of the ProMan Hit Squad lie not in the name of the title sponsor but by what follows, TWENTY12.
"The overall goal is the 2012 Olympics. I know its a pretty bold statement, but that's what were geared for," stated Cranmer.
With such a bold goal, it would be easy to be skeptical of TWENTY12's mission; fearing it too grandiose, or that in stating their objective so openly and prominently, added and unwanted pressure will be placed on its riders, but it would be a mistake to dismiss this team too quickly.
A look up and down the TWENTY12 roster reveals a group of committed and accomplished women that has considerable international experience, either racing on the World Cup Track circuit or participating as a member of the US National Team on the road. In fact, four riders, Shelley Evans, Sinead Miller, Katharine Carroll, and Lauren Tamayo, are already slated to represent the USA at the inaugural women's version of the Tour of Qatar in early February. With staples, like Shelley Evans and Cari Higgins, who have won national championship and are fixtures on the international track circuit, and a newcomer, like Mara Abbott, who is considered one of our country's top stage racers and is well versed in the European peloton with her time on Team Columbia-HTC, the squad is formidable enough to make the attainment of any goal highly probable.
Strength At The Top
Successful organizations, whether in sports or in business, are often defined by their leadership and the vision that they radiate. In that respect, TWENTY12 can already be considered a success. A tireless worker and advocate for women's cycling, Nicola Cranmer has guided the squad since their inception as ProMan-Paradigm in 2006. In that time short time, Cranmer has taken what was basically a grassroots effort to promote strong and active women and turned it into a winning UCI Track and NRC team.
The addition of Kristin Armstrong will only serve to enhance the mission of TWENTY12. In Armstrong, an Olympic and multiple World Champion, the women of Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 now have at their disposal an invaluable resource who can not only empathize with their Olympic aspirations but also help them manifest those dreams.
Team Re-Defined
The sport of cycling is an unusual beast and unlike most traditional team sports in the United States, which may partially explain the disconnect that Americans have with the sport and its athletes. Largely viewed as a sport of individuals, the uninitiated are often completely unaware of the teamwork that occurs during a race.
That being said, Olympic teams are usually comprised of the best individual cyclists and not necessary the best team of cyclists. So how does the mission of TWENTY12 remain true to the actual team nature of the sport, yet still align with the way athletes are chosen for the Olympics?
While these two aspects of the sport may seem distinct and mutually exclusive, the focus and structure of TWENTY12 has actually brought them more into concordance. The ability to race year round and the flexibility to participate with the US National Team has allowed these individuals, who share a singular vision, to become intimately involved and complicit in the realization of each others dream. Such a structure may not work, or even be possible, for other teams, but in TWENTY12 the concept of what defines a team and its successes may have to be redefined.
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