JAZZ APPLE CYCLING
TEAM FINISHES SEASON ON HIGH NOTE
28 July 2006
 The
Jazz™ Apple Cycling team was in perfect tune for a podium
finish at the Tour de Delta, the final stop on its 2006 North
American race campaign.
Michelle Hyland, representing ENZA Jazz™
apples, earned a very close second place in the unique event,
where competitors were scored on their combined times in the hill
climb (a 700 meter, 9 percent grade time trial), 36 kilometer
criterium, and 88 kilometer road race. Local favorite Marni Hambledon
tallied a mere three points over Hyland, with less than two seconds
separating the cyclists across the three disciplines.
The Vancouver-area race represented the last
challenge for the Jazz™ Apple Cycling Team, a squad of seven
of New Zealand's top women riders. Clad in brightly branded Jazz™
apple uniforms, the team created exposure for the New Zealand-bred
fruit while racing and training in the U.S. and Canada since May.
The team's achievements included podium finishes in several races,
as well as a stage win and Queen of the Mountains jersey at Minneapolis'
prestigious Nature Valley Grand Prix in June.
Between events, team members made celebrity
appearances at select supermarkets, endorsing the Jazz™ apple
while shoppers taste the fruit.
"These amazing young athletes did a phenomenal
job raising awareness of Jazz™ apples in a market ripe for
fresh, intensely flavored fruit," said David Nelley, pipfruit
category director for The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, British
Columbia. "Their winning spirit captured the hearts and imaginations
of our retail customers, apple lovers, and cycling fans everywhere.
We could not have asked for better ambassadors."
Oppenheimer is the exclusive marketer of Jazz™
apples in North America. Nelley said that response to the Royal
Gala-Braeburn cross has exceeded expectations again this year.
"As awareness of Jazz™ grows, so
does the demand for it at retail," he said. "People
everywhere are discovering Jazz™ and calling it their new
favorite apple. We sampled it to spectators recently at the Tour
de Gastown and were overwhelmed by the positive response from
people who tried it."
While the New Zealand Jazz™ apple season
wraps up in a few short weeks, Nelley looks ahead to an excellent
crop of Washington-grown Jazz™, which will be harvested in
late October.
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Related Web sites: www.oppyproduce.com
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Karin
Gardner, Communications Manager
Kinley Engdahl-Johnson,
Media Relations Specialist
PH: (206) 284-1705 | FX: (206) 284-0203
The Oppenheimer Group, Communications
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Seattle, WA 98109
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