Norway 2014

The next stage in the Journey is announced! On June 14 I shall set out from the Kirkenes Stadion (=stadium) home of Kirkenes IF in Kirkenes on the Russian border. This is probably the toughest challenge to date as we are not talking the flatlands of the Netherlands or the East of England. No, I shall face the mountains and valleys of the west coast of Norway. This stage is NOT for the faint-hearted!

Further details in the next 24 hours!

Absolutely delighted to confirm that I will be able to announce the 2014 tour details on Wednesday – feels soooo good.
Thanks to those who have given me so much help and advice……and kept their vows of silence!

….sent me this today. Kristin N. Øhrn is the Project Manager at Norway’s biggest exhibition company.
The info is in Norwegian and only of interest if you are in Oslo BUT I support those who support me so here goes:

Jakt, Fiske & Frilufts Messen

Reiselivsmessen arrangerer en ny spennende messe på Telenor Arena – Jakt, Fiske & Frilufts Messen !

Enten du er en ihugga fisker, jeger, ivrig turgåer eller en som generelt nyter friluftslivet – så er dette en messe verdt et besøk!

Velkommen til Telenor Arena førstkommende helg!

Fredag 28. februar – Søndag 2. mars
Fredag 12.00 – 18.00
Lørdag og Søndag 10.00 – 18.00

Pris entrè:
Kr. 50,-
Barn u/16 år – gratis

For mer info besøk gjerne: www.telenorarena.no and www.reiselivsmessen.no

Two British Friends

As I am tidying up the last details of my journey, I have receieved a couple of requests from friends in the UK.

Andrew Wilcox says, “On Saturday 7th June we are holding our first specialist section along with our standard general auction at Itchen Abbas Village. The theme is cycling and you can find more details on our Specialist Cycle Auction page. It is a requirement for submitting lots to this specialist section of auction. We are promoting it well in advance to give buyers and sellers the best opportunity to see and sell the cycles or related items. We are limiting the number of lots to 100 and will give preference to higher value items.”

Full details here:

Today, I also got an interesting post from my friend Stephen Bailey at Tring Tornadoes Junior Sports Club

“Hello, now we know what our new kit for 2014-16 is going to be, we’re keen to find a sponsor who wants to become part of the team too. Could that be you?”

So, if anybody wants to get in contact with a progressive youth setup in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK (50 miles north of London) please make contact with him direct at communications@tringtornadoes.co.uk

It’s an exciting day, I have been in contact with Bjørn and we are in agreement. Today, I have sent out the project for 2014 to a handful of key people asking them for their initial thoughts and advice. Tomorrow, I shall outline the whole plan to everybody. It’s been frustrating bouncing so many ideas about but it’s a great feeling to finally have “everything” (joke) nailed down.

At this stage, I really only wish to thank those who have been working with me to plan the trip. In no particular order HUGE thanks to Stig & Carola at BoISmaland, Jan at Skinny Fiber, Mark Nessfield, Pete at HotCosta, Keith at Club Torrevieja, Roger Cummiskey, Helen Johnson at Property Quest International. Ali Meehan at Costa Women, Sam Campbell at Business 1st, William at Málaga Bike Solutions, Gil at Sun Park, Lanzarote and Mike and Sue at Sun Haven Guest House.

I must make one VERY special mention – to David Blight who looked after me after the hit-and-run incident. He gave me his 10 NOK, four years ago, when I could hardly walk, never mind cycle. He KNEW I’d bounce back. I’ll never forget that, amigo! You will meet them all these guys in the weeks to come.

Final words to Young Gil at Sun Park. “Steve, I hear some people are saying you are crazy to do this trip. They are WRONG. You’d be crazy NOT to do it!”(To put this into context Gil has known me 15 years. He has known about the health issues, the hospital visits, the fire …. everything. HIS opinion is VALID!)

Tomorrow, I hope that I will be able to upload the project and the draft route….which WILL change!

I really don’t think I need to say anything else!

Bjørn Heidenstrøm

It was great to meet up with the “Bold, Bald, Bad Viking” in Oslo yesterday. We had nearly three hours together and discussed our plans for the Shirt in 2014. Sadly, we are both waiting for confirmations from partners, sponsors etc but we are both confident that we are days away from being able to be public about the next stages of the project.

Let’s go back and look at the history of the Shirt.

2009/2010 – Bjørn cycles from Norway to South Africa. See BjornHeidenstrom.com It was a HUGE media project and he created huge awareness for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

2010 – Steve cycles to the 92 Football League grounds in England and Wales. See TheShirt2010.co.uk. He has learned a lot from Bjørn’s mega-multi-marathon trip but was knocked off his bike by a hit-and-run driver in Newcastle. He carried on to finish at West Ham United. A proud man. His trip took the social media aspect to the next level.

2011 – Bjørn cycles the entire length of Norway See BjornHeidenstrom.com . This was a huge challenge but he had a back-up crew with him which enabled him to develop the social media channels. He had huge media awareness in Norway.

2012 – Bjørn canoes across Europe. This was perhaps the toughest physical challenge but was successfully completed.

2013 – Bjørn gets married. The biggest tour of them all, some would say! Good luck to him and Marianne Grinaker!

2014 – Bjørn and Steve start two separate projects to support the Shirt in the year of the 2014 World Cup.

Whilst this has all been happening, Bjørn has been very busy with his own Ekspode business and has huge plans to develop it in the months and years ahead. Good Luck! For those who speak Norwegian here is his updated Ekspode site and if you don’t speak Norwegian enjoy the photos!

Atletico Madrid extend sponsorship with Azerbaijan

Atletico Madrid have extended their sponsorship deal with Azerbaijan until 30th June, 2015, which could be more than their original €12 million agreement.

It’s an interesting deal where a country sponsors a football club. Nevertheless both sides seem happy and are continuing so I hope it’s a win-win. The full story is here.

Barcelona

One of the highlights of Bjørn’s trip through Spain in 2009 was the amazing reception he got at FC Barcelona. So, I always look out for Barcelona shirt stories. Here’s one that broke a few days ago.

When Lionel Messi or his FC Barcelona teammates lift their shirts after scoring a goal, soccer fans will see Intel Corp. (INTC)’s logo under a sponsorship that puts its logo on the inside of the team’s jerseys.

Intel, the world’s largest maker of semiconductors, agreed to become the official technology partner of the 2011 Champions League winners and current leader of La Liga, Intel vice president of sponsorships David Haroldsen said. The company’s current advertising slogan is “Look inside.”

“This is a first-time placement of a logo inside of their jersey and a first for a technology company,” Haroldsen said in an e-mail.

Haroldsen declined to provide terms of what he called a “multiyear” agreement. Forbes magazine reported that Intel will pay the club $25 million over five years.

Intel’s technology will help Barcelona players and coaches improve research, training and performance, Haroldsen said. The company’s only current sports sponsorship also will provide devices to students at Barcelona’s La Masia training academy, which developed current players such as Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.

“In the future, we will also be working to improve the fan experience through new technology at Camp Nou,” Haroldsen said of the club’s 99,354-seat stadium, which it says is the largest in Europe.

Full story here