Counting down...

Australia, you've been warned; I am getting on a plane and heading to your wonderful country in exactly one week. I get on a plane on the evening of the 27th local time and arrive on the 29th your time. How I lose an entire day is beyond me, but I guess I'll just get over it.

The passport is ready, the travel visa has been issued and the tickets arrived today. You can't stop me now! Hopefully the whole issue of pesky weather gets resolved before I get there though. All joking aside, I hope that the recovery is swift and that people are not too effected by the storm. We know a little about big storms over here too...

But I digress. I am bringing a bike with me and am told to expect to be doing some riding while there. Hopefully, if things run perfectly, I might even be able to sneak into a local race somewhere or at least a nice fast training ride. That'd be a blast. I'm looking forward to being there and I am very excited to get to come help launch Masi in the Australian market.

For those of you who do not know already, Pacific Brands is our distributor for Australia. I can not express how impressed I am with these guys and the way they are putting together the launch of the brand there. Like our Canadian distributor Norco, Pacific Brands is a fantastic company and is putting a lot of resources into doing things right ath will hopefully yield great interest in the brand there in Australia.

Here is a fantastic example of what they are doing to right now;

In the true tradition of the Commonwealth Games and in the Australian spirit of generosity, Pacific Brands is leading the way as the official sponsors of sporting clothing, footwear and equipment for the Sierra Leone athletes.

Sierra Leone, located on the west coast of Africa has experienced major political and economic unrest for a number of years, and up until 2002 the small country was involved in a civil war.

With the civil unrest thankfully now behind them, Pacific Brands is delighted to assist in building this small nation’s pride by providing them with the necessary gear to help them to compete in the Commonwealth Games.

"The plight of the Sierra Leone team was brought to the attention of the Pacific Brands Dunlop footwear team during the Dunlop Leader Sports Start dinner. During which Dorothy Maxwell, recipient of the Leader Community newspaper’s LifeTime achievement award, spoke of how the Sierra Leone team would be arriving in Melbourne with nothing more than the desire to compete. The team of 19 athletes desperately needed uniforms and equipment to compete in athletics, boxing, cycling and weightlifting events. There were also 12 officials travelling with the Sierra Leone team who needed team uniforms. This is where Dunlop Footwear became involved; by pledging support to provide footwear for the entire team." Andrew Savage, General Manager Dunlop Sporting Footwear.

Following the commitment from Dunlop Footwear, calls for support went out across the Pacific Brands Group. As a result, Pacific Brands has generously sponsored the 19 athletes and 7 team officials with Dunlop footwear, Slazenger tracksuits embroidered with the Sierra Leone Flag and
Commonwealth Games emblem and Slazenger t-shirts, singlets polo-shirts and caps. The two Sierra Leone cyclists competing have been provided with Masi road bicycles. The apparel and equipment is valued at a total retail cost of $22,500.

"In the true spirit of sport, every athlete, regardless of wealth and resources should be given the opportunity to compete on a fair and level playing field. Dunlop Footwear is proud to have been able assist the athletes from Sierra Leone achieve their dreams of competing at the Commonwealth Games." Andrew Savage, General Manager Dunlop Sporting Footwear.

"Slazenger is proud to continue the tradition of sponsoring athletes all over the world. Slazenger represents all athletes on a local and international level and we felt that this was a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the Commonwealth Games by helping a country less fortunate than ours." Michael Massey, General Manager Boydex.

"I understand that it has been a monumental task for the Sierra Leone team to get to Australia for the games. That sort of passion, dedication and commitment inspires us all, and it is appropriate that the Masi bike brand is part of this team as they share similar values. Faliero Masi was driven by a desire to always be the best, he would be proud, as we are, to be
associated with the Sierra Leone team, good luck!"

I am thrilled to be vicariously a part of such a wonderful display of generosity and good sportsmanship.

So Australia, I'll be seeing you soon.

Tim