Merino clothing brand Mons Royale will be the title sponsor of the Mons Royale Dual Speed and Style event at Crankworx Rotorua on March 26, 2015. The Wanaka based merino brand has signed a title sponsorship deal with Crankworx in Rotorua as part of its growing commitment to mountain biking. With a design philosophy that blends technical performance and a stylish aesthetic, Mons Royale creates highly versatile merino clothing. Growing from a core ski and snowboard background, mountain biking seems a natural brand extension for the brand whose garments are already a regular sight on bike trails across the globe.
The Crankworx announcement parallels the brand’s development of a range of riding specific merino wool garments for men and women as part of its summer season 2016 (SS16) product range. Mons Royale also has a commitment to a team of riders wearing and developing the gear including Enduro World Series (EWS) rider Rosara Joseph and slopestyle rider and all round rad guy, Conor Macfarlane.
Mons Royale head of brand and marketing, Richard Birkby, says Crankworx Rotorua demonstrates just how big mountain biking is in New Zealand and what a fundamentally important part of the action sports scene it is. “The Mons Royale team love to ride and so it’s a huge honour and opportunity to become the title sponsor of one of the marquee events.”
“The Crankworx brand is one of the strongest in mountain biking and will be an important platform in helping us take Mons Royale to a global audience – we’re looking forward to a great three years with the Crankworx team,” he says.
Mons Royale founder and chief executive Hamish Acland says right from the start they’ve seen people mountain biking in their Mons gear because merino is such a great fabric to ride in. “For SS16 we’ve created a specific bike range because people were asking us for it. We think Crankworx is the perfect place to launch the range to the global media not only because it has such a high profile, but because it’s about the whole mountain bike lifestyle and we’ve deployed a similar design philosophy creating a set of versatile garments that work brilliantly for riding in, which look just as good anywhere else. That’s why we think that Speed and Style is such a great match with Mons Royale – it’s a combination of performance and self-expression on a mountain bike.”
Mons Royale’s title event the Dual Speed and Style is the love child of dual slalom and freestyle – the ultimate window on the future of freeride where creativity begins. Booster jumps, step-downs, boner logs and wooden drops, riders can expect them all culminating in a crowd-pleasing, hair-raising mixer of moto whoops and flat corners. Fastest down wins the speed points, but speed doesn’t trump style. Racers earn a time credit for their artistry mid-race for tricks, flips and spins.
Spectators can lock in tickets to see the Crankworx Rotorua event on Thursday March 26 from 11:30am – 2pm through Ticketmaster.co.nz/rotorua.
To find out more, check out crankworx.com/rotorua
