SPORTING LIFE PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCED

Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA) announced today that it has finalized a long term partnership with Sporting Life that will see the venerable high end sporting retailer become one of AOA’s premium sponsors for the next five years.

“We are thrilled to be working with Sporting Life on an exclusive sporting retail basis” said AOA Executive Director Andy Wilson in making the announcement. “Having them a part of the ski racing experience across all levels of alpine racing in Ontario will continue to help in the advancement of our sport across the Province”.

A long- time friend to ski racing, Toronto based Sporting Life has supported competitive ski programs at various levels for over 34 years, including regional, provincial, national ski racing, freestyle and para- alpine. Sporting Life’s dedication to the sport goes beyond just financial resources, with staff providing expertise and support to racers both in store as well as “in the trenches” at the local ski hills and at training camps around the world.

Like Alpine Ontario, Sporting Life is embracing new opportunities for growth and advancement and has just announced their expansion across the country that includes the acquisition of Ottawa retailer Tommy & Lefebvre, the opening of a new 43,000 square foot retail store in Ottawa in fall of 2014, as well as the opening of two additional stores in next 18 months – a 32,000 square foot store in Markville set to open next fall and a 38,000 square foot store to open in Hillcrest Mall in 2016.

Over the next 6 years Sporting Life will continue the expansion across the country.

“This is a very exciting time for us. We believe in getting behind our initiatives and doing them right, whether its opening a new store, servicing our customers or supporting ski racing in Ontario” said Sporting Life Director of Marketing, John Roe of the partnership. “We invest in, hire and continuously train the best staff in the business to ensure that our customers can count on a great experience and our ski racers receive the high performance support they need to be successful on the hill. With this new Alpine Ontario partnership, we look forward to new initiatives to even further our support for every racer in the province.”

About Sporting Life

Sporting Life opened its first retail store at 2045 Yonge St, south of Eglinton in 1979. Primarily retailers of ski equipment, running and racquet sports, and sport fashions – the company ultimately grew to become a mecca for sports enthusiasts far and wide. The retailer also runs the Sporting Life 10k each spring raising funds in excess of 2.2 million for kids with cancer. Sporting Life now has retail stores across Toronto and the province including a soon to be built 43,000 square foot store in Ottawa. The popular retailer plans to continue expansion across the country.

About Alpine Ontario (AOA)

Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA) is the provincial governing body for the sport of alpine ski racing in Ontario. Alpine Ontario’s newly refined mission is to provide leadership and structure for high quality, sustainable and affordable programming and to communicate the competitive, recreational and lifestyle benefits of ski racing to the community.

AOA represents four divisions, 44 member clubs and over 30,000 active athletes, coaches and officials (volunteers). AOA coordinates several successful programs across the province and continues to foster the development of “state of the art” ski-racing programs from the grass roots level to the elite level.

For further information:

John Roe
Director of Marketing
130 Merton Street- Suite 600 Toronto, Ontario M4S 1A4
Tel: 416.673.0840| john.roe@sportinglife.ca
www.sportinglife.ca

Andrea Russell
Alpine Ontario Communications
Tel: (705) 444-5111 ext. 132 Fax: (705) 444-5116
communications@alpineontario.ca www.alpineontario.ca