Peak UK just announced ending their partnership with British Canoeing. Here is their public statement.
“Very sadly, after more than ten years of supporting our national teams we have decided to end our official partnership with British Canoeing.
This tough decision follows a number of actions, over many months, from British Canoeing regarding their commercial partnerships which conflict directly with our independent retailers, ethos and business values. We also disagree with the constant promotion to their members of such partner’s equipment, which, in our opinion, is not designed for paddlesports.
Other leading UK brands walked away last year for similar reasons. We hesitantly continued our partnership, primarily due to our long-standing ties and friendships with the National and Clear Access Clear Waters teams. The final straw for us was the recent questionnaire sent out to British Canoeing members and coaches which used edited images of Peak (and other brands) products with logos removed to help the new commercial partners develop a paddlesport range. This is totally unacceptable.
We will now support athletes as individuals rather than as a team, and support teams at local level rather than elite. We will continue to support Clear Access Clear Waters through our charity work in the River Derwent Valley with Paddle Peak.
We look forward to welcoming the new British Canoeing CEO Ashley Metcalfe in June and hope for a positive change to the current overly commercially driven direction. Hopefully we can then become Stronger Together Again…“
For more info on Peak UK go to www.peakuk.com
