Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport And Sprinter: Perfect Partners For A High-Impact Summer

MILTON KEYNES, UNITED KINGDOM – May 18, 2010: Mercedes-Benz Vans will be socially-networking, tweeting and blogging with biking and football enthusiasts this summer to highlight the athletic attributes of the Vito Sport and Sprinter vans.

The Vito Sport is sponsoring two key events in the biking calendar, the MTB Series and the Animal Relentless Bike Tour. Mountain bikers can now keep up to date with the very latest news via a Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/vitosport, or via Twitter: www.twitter.com/thevitosport, along with being able to blog about their biking experiences at www.biker.vitosport.co.uk.

And, as World Cup fever builds, football fans will be able to tune into talkSPORT’s radio coverage, find out how celebrity and sporting guests perform at a weekly Sprinter Van ‘keepy uppy’ Challenge and have a go themselves online at www.madeforthepeople.com with the chance to win a £50 voucher from toffs.com and a mini football table.

The MTB Series, that encompasses the MTB Series Marathons, MTBtransUK, Bikefest and Mash Up, hold a number of mountain biking events across Great Britain. Riders can choose to compete in varying courses that range in difficulty including mini marathons (of between 25-30 km), full marathons (between 80-100 km), downhill trails and, a seven day endurance challenge. Twelve different events are to be held over the summer period including Grassington, Yorkshire, Selkirk, Scotland and Ruthin, Wales.

The Vito Sport will be on display at the mega event village at each MTB Series event. This versatile vehicle delivers on style without compromising practicality and will be showing off just why it’s got the mountain bikers’ seal of approval.

The Vito Sport will also be continuing its successful partnership with The Animal Relentless Bike Tour and Team Ashton Diamondback, one of the UK’s leading mountain biking teams.

This breathtaking freestyle bike show has been created by leading freesports lifestyle brand, Animal, and stars world champion trials rider and world record holder Martyn Ashton. The show also shows off the impressive talents of Sam Pilgrim, who at just 19 has won a number of events in Britain, Italy and Austria and is widely regarded as a leading dirt slope rider worldwide; and Zimbabwean born dirt jumper Blake Samson.

Over the summer two Vito 115 Sport Dualiner vans will be transporting the team to shows held across the UK at high profile sports events, music festivals and city centres, along with playing an integral part in the show with the team using the vehicles to demonstrate their gravity-defying skills to the crowds.

The Animal Relentless Bike Tour kicks off on 29 May in Liverpool and will be touring the country including Bournemouth, Windfest at Sandbanks, Poole, Boardmasters at Newquay and London.

And from one kick off to another, this summer also sees Mercedes-Benz Vans teaming up with talkSPORT as one of the station’s official World Cup sponsors.

The sponsorship that runs throughout the summer sees Vito and Sprinter promoted in ‘on air trails’ and through a weekly Sprinter Van ‘keepy uppy’ Challenge. Broadcast during the mid-morning show hosted by Mike Parry and Andy Townsend, the Sprinter Van Challenge gives celebrity and sporting guests a chance to test their ‘keepy uppy’ skills alongside a strikingly-liveried Sprinter panel van.

Listeners hear a commentary on the challenge and are invited to call in or text their answers to a question. A video of each week’s challenge is posted on talkSPORT’s website for all to enjoy, while visitors to Mercedes-Benz Vans’ dedicated World Cup microsite www.madeforthepeople.com can also take part in their own ‘keepy uppy’ game.

Fans will also be able to test their football knowledge at the site in a fantasy football league, with the chance to win tickets to the Belgian Grand Prix and an England 2012 European qualifier at Wembley as well as AMG and off-road driving experiences at Mercedes-Benz World,

Steve Bridge, Mercedes-Benz Vans Sales and Marketing Director said: “Through sponsorship of the MTB Series and The Animal Relentless Bike Tour we’re able to show, even at its most extreme, just how versatile the Vito Sport is. Whatever your weekend need is, extreme or not, the Vito Sport will allow you to easily load up your kit and transport the family in style.”

“And with football being the nations’ obsession, we’re delighted to be one of talkSPORT World Cup sponsors, helping us to talk directly to van drivers and dispel the important misconception that our vans are out of people’s reach, and instead drive home the message that they’re actually very affordable.”