RELEASE UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL OCTOBER 8, 2012 @ 1800

Olympic gold medal success celebrated with rowers awarded new Audi Q5s by BankLink together with Giltrap Group

Auckland, 8 October 2012: BankLink, principal partner of Rowing New Zealand, together with the Giltrap Group today presented Rowing New Zealands Olympic gold medallists with the keys to new Audi Q5s in recognition of their outstanding achievements at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Single sculler Mah Drysdale, coxless pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, and the heavyweight double scull duo including Joseph Sullivan each received the keys to their new cars at a private ceremony hosted at the Giltrap Audi Showroom on Great North Road in Auckland. Sullivans crewmate, Nathan Cohen, who was unable to attend, will be presented with his car at a later date.

Richard Reese, BankLink General Manager of Operations, said; BankLink is a long-time supporter of Rowing New Zealand and we wanted to recognise and celebrate the exceptional success of our Olympic gold medallists.

Watching our rowers compete in London clearly showed once again the effort and dedication of these athletes. We believe it is important to formally recognise and reward their achievements at a personal level and to hopefully provide an incentive for them to continue on to Rio 2016 and replicate their success.

BankLink, together with Giltrap Group, has gifted the gold medal winning rowers the use of the Audis for two years or, as an incentive to stay on in the sport until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, for four years if they continue with rowing.

Sir Colin Giltrap, Executive Chairman of Giltrap Group Holdings Limited, added; The presentation of these Audi Q5s is an acknowledgement of the hard work and hours these rowers put into their sport every week. Our rowers have achieved some of New Zealands greatest sporting successes in recent years and were proud to be able to show our support of these amazing athletes in this way.

CEO of Rowing New Zealand, Simon Peterson, added; BankLink is an incredibly supportive and hands-on principle partner for Rowing New Zealand. Having a sponsor that not just provides funding to our programmes, but that goes the extra mile to support our athletes at a personal level is invaluable.

Our rowers spend a great deal of time on the road each day travelling to training sessions and events and being able to get there in the comfort, safety and style of an Audi Q5 is something that I know will be appreciated by all of our gold medallists.

Link:
Olympic gold medal success celebrated